When You Fall
by Faythren
Summary: Sequel to When Hope is Gone. Unicron is coming. That is a fact foretold by Death itself. But while Ari prepares for a threat from the skies, something else stirs much closer to home. Something that has hidden just out of sight for decades. Lives will be lost, changed, remade, all because of two words: Hail Hydra. And they've just let the monster in through the door.
1. The Phone Call

_**Author's Note**_

 _You didn't think I was done yet, did you?_

 _This fic has been a real beast to write so far. I'm combining two movies from two different universes, trying to get them to fit together as seamlessly as possible. It's required a lot of going back and rewriting as I continue to go forward._

 _But I think I've finally got the first half of this pretty solid. Enough to where I can start posting._

 _I'm thinking we all really need the pick me up right now anyway, after Infinity War. Can I just say how glad I am that Ari's the AllSpark and was able to take care of Thanos? Because, seriously, I'm glad. And I'm sure all of you are glad I wrote that before Infinity War came out, because I'm also sure that, if I had the influence of that movie, I would have subjected you all to a lot more heartache._

 _Yeah, let's all just be grateful and take comfort from this fic._

 _Although, we don't really get to the Avengers yet. Per tradition, I'll be posting the first two chapters today, but only one Avenger really shows in chapter two. Everyone else isn't until chapter three and, I'm sorry, but I'm only going to post once every other week. Better than last time with only once a month, but I really don't want the posting to catch up to where I am writing so that I can keep posting at a steady rate. Once I finish the fic, I'll pick up the posting to once a day. Hopefully that'll make up for it._

 _So, without further adieu, go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **The Phone Call**_

Slow breath in. Slow breath out.

Ari relaxes her body as she continues to simply breathe. Everything rattling around in her head gets shoved to the side until she feels nothing but the bed beneath her and the cool air pumping into her and Sideswipe's bedroom.

Then on the next deep breath she delves into the AllSpark's doors, sifting yet again for the information she seeks.

She's been doing this every day since the battle with Thanos. Since she was left with a warning that chilled Death herself.

Unicron is awakening. And once he's strong enough, he's coming here. To Earth.

Ari has been searching her doors for any information she can find on him. Strengths. Weaknesses.

What she finds terrifies her.

Unicron is humongous. Size of the _moon_ big. His battle with Primus stretched across galaxies and almost destroyed the entire universe.

They've faced a lot. Ari. Sideswipe. The Autobots and N.E.S.T. Her family and friends. They've done the impossible so many times before. How are they supposed to stop something like this? _Can_ they? Or will the impossible finally win?

The only solution Ari can think of is to find Unicron before he gains too much strength. But no matter how hard she tries, the AllSpark won't let her see where he is now, or what happened to him after he lost his fight against Primus.

If only they could find Primus, maybe awaken him to fight his brother, but she doesn't know what happened to him either. The AllSpark will show her both of them floating through space when their fighting ends, in stasis lock but online. After that, she's not allowed to see.

Though maybe that's a good thing. If Primus and Unicron fight again, the collateral damage won't just be a few buildings or even an entire city. It'll be whole planets.

A chiming ding breaks through her concentration and she sighs, closing her doors for now.

No progress, still. Frustration builds in her chest like a vice and she struggles to push it away, stabbing a finger at her phone to turn the alarm off. She'd keep going at it but the alarm is to remind her that Sideswipe should just be getting off patrol. He'll be worried if he catches her still going at it, again. He thinks she's being obsessive.

She doesn't really see what choice she has. She has to do something. Before it's too late.

But she stops for now, making her way out of their room to the catwalk and through the D.C. base to the main hanger.

Soldiers greet her as she wizzes by, throwing out a smile or quick wave in return. They've grown a lot the past few months, opening two new bases in Europe. A lot of soldiers got sent to the new facilities, along with a couple of Autobots including Wheeljack, Mirage, the triplets, and the twins Skids and Mudflap. Ari thought the base would feel smaller after so many people leaving but it really doesn't. They refilled their lost numbers in just a few weeks, recruits graduating and even some new Autobots coming to Earth.

It's kept things lively and has made sure Ari has a lot of work to do. With their global operations expanding she hasn't had much in the way of downtime. But she keeps moving along, determined to keep N.E.S.T. running as smoothly as possible while trying to brace for what's to come.

She makes it to the main hanger just in time, spotting Sideswipe near the doors giving his report to Optimus. His optics flit over to her and he smiles, making a smile pull on her own lips as their bond fills with love.

Everything is so crazy right now. All of the pressure and worry and responsibility making that vice around her chest squeeze so tight sometimes it's hard to breathe. But Sideswipe is here with her though it all, helping her loosen that vice when it all gets to be too much.

The report only takes a few minutes, Optimus dismissing him with a nod. Sideswipe flings a jaunty salute before skating on his wheeled feet towards Ari, holding up a hand to her. She reaches for him, allowing him to pick her up to cradle her against his chassis.

" _Hey, sweetspark,"_ Sideswipe says along their sparkmate bond, his presence in her mind holding her close like he's doing in real life. _"How's your day been?"_

" _Eh, not bad, but not great either,"_ she hedges.

" _Still no luck with Unicron then?"_

A sigh escapes her, not wanting to dump all this on him but needing to vent. _"No, which is fragging frustrating and I'm starting to think I'm never going to be allowed to see anything. Not until it's too late. But that's not everything."_

"What else, then?" he asks aloud, heading back to their room.

She tries to relax against Sideswipe as he reclines on the bed with his back against the wall, but she just can't get rid of the tension that's been squeezing around her neck and shoulders for hours. "I had a conference call with the World Security Council and Galloway this morning."

"Is that when I felt you getting insanely frustrated?"

"Yeah. It's Galloway, and the American member of the Council. They keep pushing for missions that...that I don't agree with."

A sense of foreboding seeps into the bond. Ari is usually pretty amiable when it comes to helping out S.H.I.E.L.D. with missions. Sending N.E.S.T. usually means a minimal loss of life—if any at all—since going against humans is a cakewalk for the Autobots compared to the Decepticons.

But that's the problem.

"The missions they've been trying to get past me, Sides. They're...they sound like assassinations."

She can just imagine how the Council would want to use the Autobots. They can blend in to their surroundings without detection, able to get close to a mark effortlessly. They can take the shot without anyone suspecting the bullet coming from a driverless car. Or they can get up close and personal in their holoforms, disappearing without a trace before anyone notices.

They'd be the perfect assassins, a path the Decepticons would be eager for but one Ari isn't going to let the Autobots go down.

"We don't harm humans," Sideswipe says vehemently. "Not unless we can't avoid it."

"I know that. Which is why I've vetoed each mission, but they keep trying, coming up with new ways to ask for what they want." She snorts humorously. "Like I'm too stupid to tell what they're trying to make you guys do."

"Then it'll be okay. You'll keep telling them no until they get the hint."

"But what if they never do? What if they try to find some other way to make you guys do what they want, something even I can't stop?"

"Then Optimus will stop them. We don't do anything without his approval, and Optimus would never approve this, just like you. We're not turning into assassins. There's enough blood on our hands."

The bitterness in his words is crystal clear, even without the bond. They have enough regrets with the war with the Decepticons. Those bots used to be friends and family. Now, they're divided, at each other's throats and trying to kill one another. They already killed Cybertron. Bringing the war here, they've almost killed the Earth a few times, too.

Yes, there has been too much blood. And the war is far from over. The Autobots certainly don't need to be adding any more red to their ledgers.

"I know. This whole thing is just frustrating and time consuming and tiring. I have more important things to do than listen to a couple of toddlers with temper tantrums because I'm denying them new toys. I have enough on my plate as it is."

Concern flutters along the bond, a familiar feeling in the past few months. She tries to conjure a reassuring smile for him but it's gotten harder and harder to do so convincingly. And she knows it's not reaching her eyes now.

The concern flutters harder, like a flock of birds suddenly taking flight. His fingers delve into her hair and she closes her eyes, finally relaxing a little bit at the ministrations.

"Maybe we should get away for a bit," he mumbles softly, his voice rumbling in her ear where it's pressed to his chassis.

"Sides, I can't. If I don't have time to deal with Galloway, then I definitely don't have time to just take off for a vacation."

He huffs and she can practically feel him rolling his optics. "I'm not talking about some weeklong retreat. I mean for just one night."

She lifts her head, intrigued. "You mean like a date?"

He gives her that crooked smile of his that never fails to make her feel like she's flying. "Yeah. Seriously, when's the last time we went on a date?"

"Not…for a while," she realizes, guilt turning her stomach sour. She's been so caught up in work and Unicron lately, she hasn't really made time for just her and Sideswipe.

"Hey." He brushes a finger along the side of her face, leaving a fiery trail that makes her shudder. "Don't go thinking those thoughts. What you're doing is important. But if you keep going like this, sweetspark, you're going to burn yourself out. So let's just take a night to relax. Let me take care of you and show you a good time. And then tomorrow you'll be able to bulldoze any problems in your way."

A smile, a real smile, pulls at her lips. "Yeah. Let's do it. And maybe we can make it a weekly thing? Barring any emergencies, of course."

"Yeah, that sounds good," he says with a relieved smile. She cocks her head at him, raising an eyebrow, and his faceplates turn sheepish. "I…may have already made reservations for tonight. So I am very glad you said yes."

She chuckles, reaching up to press a kiss to his lips. Her happiness bounds across the bond and he holds her just a little bit closer. "I love you."

He grins. "I love you, too, Ari. Now let's go have some fun."

* * *

Ari isn't really sure what to expect when getting ready. A reservation means an upscale restaurant, so formal wear is a definite must. However, whenever they go out, they always do more than just dinner.

Sideswipe is being very tightlipped about his plans, though. His only clue is a request—wear the vintage dress Natasha gave her for the date they had during the Anti-Alien fiasco.

The burgundy swing dress fits just as well as when she first got it, though hopefully it won't come perilously close to being ruined from the rain like last time. She pairs it with the same kitten heels as before, looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror for a moment as she takes herself in.

She doesn't look any different than that day, minus the makeup and her hair is still down, of course. She decides to forego them now—hating the long routine it takes to get it all perfect—but she continues to stare at herself for a few minutes.

The whole no-aging thing is still a bit surreal to her. She knows she should look at least a little older by now, but her face is the same. Even with everything that's been happening lately. She _feels_ older, but there are no worry lines growing on her brow. The stress hasn't touched her skin.

Fifty years from now, a hundred years from now, more, she'll still be here. Just as young. Just as strong. Always standing between the Autobots and everyone else to keep them safe. Galloway won't always be here. But she will be. She will win, in the end, because time is on her side. All of this will pass. She just has to weather the storm.

Feeling a bit lighter than before, she puts on the last of her accessories—her Autobot pendant, anklet, and bracelets, because even though she's with Sideswipe that doesn't mean she can go without her failsafes. Once done, she then exits the bathroom, finding Sideswipe waiting for her near the bedroom door.

His optics light up, just like his human eyes did the first time he saw her in this dress. They rake over her slowly, admiringly. Even though he's seen her like this before, appreciation simmers along their bond, setting her belly on fire and along her cheeks. Why are they going out again? Why aren't they just staying in?

Next time, she promises herself. Next time.

Sideswipe smirks, hearing her train of thought and echoing his approval.

"Ready to go?" he asks, bending down and holding his hand out to her.

She bites her lip, tempted to say no and see what happens, but the anticipation is all part of the fun, right?

Taking his hand, Ari is lifted up to perch on his shoulder, deftly keeping her balance as he skates through the base. Once they're outside he transforms, his parts moving carefully around her until he's in his alt mode with Ari in the passenger's seat. She sighs in contentment, leaning back in the leather seat as the city passes them by.

Sideswipe's holoform appears next to her in the driver's seat, wearing a suit without the tie and the top few buttons of his white dress shirt open.

It's Ari's turn to hum appreciatively, barely withholding the urge to run her fingers through his wavy black hair. He likes the fancy yet casual look—the only time he's really ever dressed up all the way being on their wedding day—but she has to admit, she likes this look too. When her eyes wander over his face, catching on his bright blue eyes, that's when she notices his frown.

"What is it?" she asks, giving in to run her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp lightly in comfort.

He leans into the touch but the frown doesn't fade. "They have valet service."

She glances through the windshield, noticing for the first time that they've already arrived. They're stopped outside the restaurant, a valet attendant sliding into the car in front of them and driving it off towards the parking lot.

"I can do that myself, thanks," Sideswipe mumbles, bottom lip pouting slightly.

Ari chuckles. "Sides, all you have to do is pretend to be a normal car and let him drive for thirty seconds. Is that so bad?"

"Yes," he deadpans.

"You did that a lot longer for me when we first met."

His eyes fill with a softness that's tangible along their bond, the corners of his mouth ticking up in a fond smile. "Yeah, but that was you."

He steps out of his alt mode before she can reply. She moves to follow him but her door doesn't budge, locked. She glares at him through the windshield as he rounds his alt mode, opening the door for her himself.

"So, you're not just being rude," she teases, taking his outstretched hand. "You're trying to be a gentleman."

"Trying?" he says, voice filled with mock hurt as he helps her out and closes the door behind her. "I _am_ a gentleman."

She pats his cheek lightly, eyes twinkling with mirth. "Sometimes, yeah,"

He gives her a playful glare and then turns to the attendant, reluctantly handing over the keys and receiving a valet ticket in return that he stuffs in his jacket pocket.

Ari takes his arm before he can dwell on it, tugging him towards the restaurant and asking curiously, "Where did you even get those keys? I thought I lost your keys a long time ago."

"You did," he smirks. "Those are the spare. And I'm not giving them to you. Knowing you, you'll end up losing these ones too."

"I'm not that bad."

He bites his lips, holding back a reply she's sure would get him in trouble.

They're seated on the second-floor veranda, overlooking a garden area set up behind the restaurant. The night is just cool enough to be comfortable, the candle softly illuminating their table giving it a cozy atmosphere despite the other tables of people around them.

"This is amazing, Sideswipe," she murmurs, taking his hand on the tablecloth and twining their fingers together. "How did you manage to get a reservation?"

He hesitates and she can feel his deliberation, tempted to tell a small fib. She arches a brow at him, reminding him how futile it is to try to lie even though he doesn't mean anything bad by it.

"While I would love to take all the responsibility for it, I can't." He gives an exaggerated sigh, smiling sheepishly. "Pepper says hi."

Ari barks out a laugh. "I was expecting you to say Natasha."

"Nah, not this time. Apparently, Tony has standing reservations at all his favorite restaurants in all his favorite cities. We're just borrowing it."

"I'm surprised Tony's letting us. He usually doesn't like to share."

"No, Pepper's letting us. Tony tried to object but then it sounded like she hit him with something heavy."

Ari snickers. "I knew she loves us more."

Dinner goes over wonderfully. The food is excellent, almost as good as the company. By dessert, Ari's fully relaxed and laughing more than she has in months. She let everything get to her too much. Yes, something bad is coming. Yes, she wants to do something about it. But she can't. Not right now at least. Dwelling on it, living in a state of constant dread, it's not healthy.

She can't just stop her life because of what-ifs and could-bes. She needs to enjoy life while it lasts.

Just in case.

Sideswipe bundles her back up into his alt mode after dinner, a secretive smile on his face as he takes her somewhere else. She needles him the entire way there but he doesn't budge, his thoughts kept firmly in check along the bond.

A sharp ring from Ari's clutch purse interrupts her nagging, curiosity changing course as she digs out her phone. She blinks in surprise as Lina's name flashes across the screen.

"Huh, I haven't heard from Lina in a while," she muses, taping the answer button.

"Make it quick, we're almost there," Sideswipe warns her.

"No promises when Lina's involved," Ari jokes before turning her attention to the phone. "Hey, Lina, what's up?"

"Ari," Lina says breathlessly, like she's been running for miles. There's also an edge to her voice that sends ice down Ari's spine, something she hasn't heard in her friend since Egypt.

Desperation. Pain. Fear.

Sideswipe feels Ari's worry and pulls over without a word, slipping into a random parking space along the curb.

"What's wrong?" Ari asks, turning the call on speaker and trying to keep calm. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Ari, I'm in some serious fragging trouble," Lina breathes, keeping her voice low like she's afraid of being overheard. "Like, worse than freshman year."

Ari's eyes widen. That is saying something, coming from her. "What's happened? Where are you?"

"I-I don't know. Somewhere in D.C. but I don't know exactly where. I just kept running…."

"Since when did you get to D.C.?" Ari asks, brow shooting to her hairline. Lina should be in Nevada, still in college. She shakes that thought away, shoving it aside for the moment. "You know what? Never mind. You can tell me all about it when we get to you. Just stay on the line, alright?"

"I've got the signal of your call, Lina," Sideswipe says, eyes staring unfocused out the windshield as he concentrates but his hands are clenched white on the steering wheel. "I'll have your location in twenty seconds."

"Primus, I hope you're close." Lina's voice cracks, close to tears, and it makes Ari even more scared for her. Lina _never_ cries. She didn't even cry during Egypt. Yeah, she was scared out of her mind, but there weren't any tears. "I don't know if I lost them or not."

Ari's tempted to ask who's them, worried she's talking about someone other than the Decepticons, but Sideswipe speaks before she can. "Got it! You're not far from us. We'll be there in ten minutes."

Sideswipe puts them into motion, weaving in and out of D.C. traffic with horns blaring in their wake. Ari doesn't pay attention to the trip much, trusting Sideswipe to get them there in one piece. "Just sit tight, Lina, we'll be there soon. Are you somewhere safe or are you still running?"

"I-I'm hiding in some sort of warehouse? I don't see anyone but I don't…they came out of _nowhere_. I don't know how they found us in the first place. We were so careful."

"We? Is there someone else with you?"

Lina swallows heavily, audible even through the phone. "Not…Not anymore. I think he's dead."

"Who?"

"Fury."

Ari feels her face drain of color as her stomach drops. " _Nick_ Fury?"

"Yeah." Lina sniffles. "The head of S.H.I.E.L.D. You knew him, right? He was at your wedding."

"Yeah," Ari whispers numbly. "We knew him."

Tears prick at the backs of her eyes. How can he just be gone? Nick is one of the strongest people she knows. What could have possibly brought him down? What kind of trouble was he in? Why didn't he call her? If she had been there then maybe….

Sideswipe takes her free hand in her lap and squeezes gently. His jaw is set in a firm line, retribution burning in his eyes and in his spark. It ignites her own determination and she _swears_ by Primus himself that someone will pay for this.

"Who did this, Lina?" Ari demands with a cold edge she hardly recognizes in herself. "Tell me."

"I don't know," Lina admits. "They weren't Decepticons, I know that much. They were human."

" _Human?_ " That's not what she was expecting but, really, should it be so surprising? Fury's the head of a secret worldwide spy organization responsible for toppling tyrants and stopping terrorists in their tracks. Getting rid of Fury would be very good for any number of bad guys.

And it could also mean the beginning of a much larger attack.

Sideswipe suddenly comes to a jarring halt. It's dark out, no street lights illuminating the area for several blocks, and they're barely able to make out the huge warehouses around them.

"We're here, Lina," Ari reassures her, getting out of Sideswipe's alt mode, his holoform right behind her. "I'm going to hang up now. We'll be there in a minute."

"Okay," Lina answers meekly and then the line goes dead.

"The others know what's going on," Sideswipe says, placing a protective hand on her waist. "Backup's on the way."

Ari activates her bracelets, the bands constricting around her wrists as the blades extend. "We can't risk waiting for them. Whoever these people are, they could be close to finding her again."

Frustration dies just as quickly as it builds along the bond, Sideswipe giving a curt nod. "I know. Just…stay close to me."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _If you hadn't noticed, my love for cliffhangers is still strong. But at least you'll get the next chapter in just a few minutes._

 _As you can see, we're hitting the ground running. And yay for Lina returning! We're going to be seeing a lot of her this fic. And Sunstreaker as well for that matter. ;)_

 _For those of you who don't know, the Captain America: Winter Soldier movie has officially begun! But it's not the only one. Go onward to the next chapter to find out more._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	2. Man out of Time

_**Author's Note**_

 _So, the next chapter, as promised. We'll talk more at the end. For now, go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Man out of Time**_

Sideswipe leads the way to a nearby warehouse, staying in holoform for the time being since his bipedal form will draw too much attention. If they're lucky they can get in, get Lina, and get out without running into trouble.

They find a door that's unlocked around the side, giving each other uneasy glances before entering the warehouse.

The darkness swallows them whole, making it almost impossible to see anything. They saw windows on the outside but a lot of the glass looks to be painted over, giving them almost no light. Luckily, Sideswipe has extraordinary eyesight in his holoform, Ari's eyesight not too far behind with her enhancements thanks to the AllSpark. Even still, it's only enough to make out blobs of crates stacked about.

There's no sign of Lina. Or anyone else who might be in here.

"Lina?" Ari hisses, chancing that Lina—and only Lina—is close enough to hear. "Lina, you in here?"

"Oh, thank Primus," a voice mutters and Lina crawls out from underneath a tarp draped between two crates, creating a little hidey-hole. She holds her arms out in front of her, hands searching the dark. "Where are you guys?"

"Right here," Ari sighs in relief, retracting one blade so she can take Lina's hand. "Have you heard anyone else around?"

"No, I think you guys got here first. But I don't know how far behind they might be."

So many questions dance on Ari's tongue, begging to spring out, but she bites them back. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Sideswipe leads the way back towards the exit, allowing them their first good look at Lina in the moonlight. And she does not look good. Her hair is disheveled, like she's been tugging at it in frustration. Dirt and grime dust her jeans and t-shirt, tears in the fabric exposing skin and dried blood.

"Slag, Lina," Sideswipe breathes in astonishment. "What happened?"

Lina pulls away from Ari, wrapping her arms around herself. None of the calm, confident woman Ari has come to know and love shows. Just a terrified shadow of her. "I'd rather talk on the road if you don't mind. We seriously need to keep moving."

Sideswipe steps to Lina's other side, so she's walking between them. "I'm parked right over-"

Something zips through the air, almost like one of Clint's arrows, and then Sideswipe stumbles, a sharp jolt of pain searing through the bond. Ari frowns, reaching for him and catching his arm. "Are you alright?" she asks.

But then Lina screams and she sees his head.

There's a gaping hole in the side of it, going all the way through.

Sideswipe's mouth gapes like a fish, moving up and down like he's trying to say something but can't. His holoform fizzes and then dies, blinking out of existence. Ari's heart jumps to her throat, only calmed when she feels Sideswipe's reassuring presence in her mind.

" _Run, Ari! Get back inside! It's a sniper!"_

That gets Ari moving. She grabs Lina's arm and drags her back towards the warehouse. More zips rain down around them, punching holes in the concrete beneath their feet.

Bullets.

They get inside and slam the door shut behind them, plunging them in darkness. At least they're out of sight but they're far from safe.

There's nowhere to run.

"They found me," Lina whimpers in terror. "They fragging found me. Now what do we do?"

"Hide until help arrives," Ari says, hating the helpless edge to her voice but there's really nothing they can do. She leads Lina back over to her original hiding space, both of them ducking under the tarp to squeeze between the crates.

" _Sideswipe, you okay?"_ she asks along the bond, already knowing the answer but needing to hear it anyway.

" _Yeah, I'm fine, sweetspark. You know losing the holoform doesn't actually hurt me."_

" _I know, just…it still scares me when it happens."_

" _Well, you don't need to worry about me. I'm more worried about you. I'm not sure where the shots came from. I don't see anyone on any nearby rooftops but that doesn't really mean anything."_

" _Do what you can to find them but be careful, alright? I don't want you to lose an optic."_

She can practically feel his smirk as he replies, _"Yes, ma'am."_

"Sideswipe's going to try to find the shooter," Ari tells Lina aloud, keeping her voice at a whisper. Just in case. "Hopefully he can find whoever it is and take care of them. If not, then we've got Autobots heading our way. All else fails, one of them can break in here and shove us in an alt mode before we're seen."

"But it's not just one guy," Lina breathes, voice shaking. "There was a whole squad of guys earlier."

Ari has nothing to say to that, nothing encouraging anyway. All they can do is hope that the Autobots can get them out of here before whoever it is finds them.

They sit in silence, trying to ignore the skittering of rats and the sense of impending doom pressing down on them like ropes pulling at their limbs. Their ears strain, just waiting to hear any sign that someone else has entered the building. The banging of a door. The scuffing of shoes on the concrete.

A click echoes across the room. Like the click of a gun being cocked.

Ari pushes Lina to the floor just before a bang explodes in the silence, one of the crates splintering beside them and raining wood chips on their heads.

"Run!" Ari yells, clasping Lina's hand and pulling her along as they race through the darkness. She leads them around the blobs of crates, trying to find the exit while looking out for a blob that moves.

Another gunshot rings in their ears, another crate splintering, both sounds too close for comfort.

"How is he seeing us?" Lina hisses, stumbling over her feet but Ari's hand keeps her upright and moving.

"He probably has some sort of night vision scope or something," Ari replies distractedly, spotting a sliver of light near the floor coming from a door. Her hand blindly finds the handle but it doesn't turn, locked.

Another bullet shoots through the air, so close Ari can feel her hair move from its wind as it passes.

Out of time, Ari takes a step back and kicks the door out, narrowly losing her shoe in the process. Heels are definitely not the best footwear for this, not even kitten heels. Maybe she should start keeping running gear in Sideswipe's trunk.

They burst outside, grateful to see again but that relief quickly vanishes when they realize Sideswipe is nowhere in sight.

" _Sideswipe, where are you?"_ Ari calls out desperately, running out of ideas. There's nowhere to hide. They won't make it to the next warehouse before the shooter catches up, making them easy targets.

" _I'm almost back to you,"_ he says, worry palpable across the bond. _"He's fast for a human."_

Ari looks around, thinking quickly. "Lina, go hide around the corner."

Lina's eyes widen in confusion and fear. "What-?"

"No time to argue. Just go."

Lina huffs out a sigh but nods, going around the corner for what little protection it offers.

The door slams open again behind Ari and she tenses, expecting to be shot on the spot but isn't.

Sideswipe floods the bond with panic. _"Ari, what are you doing?"_

" _I'm buying you some time,"_ she says, reactivating both her blades. _"Approach as quietly as you can, sneak up behind him, and grab him."_

Sideswipe tries to protest but she ignores him. It won't do any good now.

Slowly, she turns to face whoever has decided to make the mistake of hurting her friends.

It's a man, she sees, with a high-powered rifle slung across broad shoulders to hang at his back. Kevlar and leather covers him from the neck down, all in black, reminding her of Clint's Hawkeye uniform a little bit. Except that his right arm is completely covered in leather, all the way down to his fingertips, and his left arm glints in the moonlight.

Metal. His arm is made of metal.

"Are you a Decepticon?" she can't help but ask even as she scans his face. Bright blue eyes stare back at her, framed by scraggly brown hair falling down to his chin. Blue eyes, not the rusty brown that the Decepticon Pretender had back in college. These blue eyes are haunting in a way she can't quite put her finger on. Almost like they're empty. Soulless.

It may have something to do with the fact that the bottom half of his face—from his nose down to his jaw—is covered in something that suspiciously looks like a muzzle. That and the creepy, wordless staring.

"Who are you?" she tries again, risking a step closer to him.

His hands clench, left arm whirling softly. Meaning, yeah, that is a mechanical arm.

She opens her mouth to ask what happened to his arm when he suddenly lunges at her, metal fist coming right towards her head. She ducks at the last minute, slipping under his arm to get behind him.

Guess there's no more talking, then.

She pivots to face him, slipping out of her shoes as she moves so she's not tripping over them. He lunges again, each swing of his fist coming faster than the last, and Ari struggles to dodge them all. He's not exactly a big man but, Primus, how can he be this fast? It's almost inhuman. Her own enhancements are all that's keeping her from getting pummeled.

But she can't keep this up forever so on his next swing she steps inside his reach, aiming to swipe a blade along his side. He catches her arm, twisting, forcing her to turn to put her back against his front in order to keep her arm from wrenching out of its socket.

His arms enclose around her, pinning her to him as tight as a boa constrictor. Her ribs begin to ache as she struggles, trying to break his hold but he's strong. Ironhide's holoform kind of strong, but he's not even as big as Ironhide looks in his holoform. How can he be that strong?

What is he?

One of his arms moves to her neck, nestling it into the crook of his elbow and squeezing. Ari gasps for breath, going wild as she wonders if he's trying to kill her or if he wants her to pass out from lack of oxygen.

If he wanted her dead, he should have come out of the warehouse guns blazing. But he didn't. He hasn't even reached for his gun. Why give her the curtesy of a fair fight in hand to hand?

Her vision starts to go dark and Ari musters the last of her strength, kicking the heel of her foot back on his shin. The blow isn't as hard as it would be with shoes but it does the trick, making him grunt in pain and loosen his hold on her just enough.

She gets an arm free, swiping back blindly with a blade as she breaks out of his grip. The blade catches on something and she tears through it. She stumbles away from him, gasping for breath but still able to hear something plop to the ground.

His mask tumbles past her and she turns, getting her first good look at his face. And gasps for a different reason, because she _knows_ that face. Anyone with a high school knowledge of World War II knows that face.

"B-Bucky?" she wheezes, the fight draining out of her along with the color in her face. It can't be him. This has to be a mistake. But…this man looks just like him. James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes.

Steve Rogers's best friend growing up.

The man stills at the name, so still it looks like he hardly breathes.

Bucky went into the army way back in World War II. He _died_. Fell from a train in front of Steve's eyes, falling right down the mountain. There's now way he could have survived that. And yet here he stands, right in front of Ari.

Facing her as an enemy.

But with empty eyes. Either he's more metal than just his exposed arm—and not really Bucky—or something else is going on. Something to do with those empty eyes.

"Bucky?" she tries again, her breathing and voice back under control. "Bucky, is that you?"

His mouth slightly downturns, a slip of confusion surfacing in his eyes, the first emotion he's shown yet. "Who the hell is Bucky?" he asks, voice deep and rough like it hasn't been used in a while.

One of her doors shudders inside of her and she knows, she _knows_ , that this is Bucky and he needs their help.

Sideswipe skates around the corner of the warehouse, bending down low with his arm held out. He grabs Bucky from behind, encasing him in metal fingers with his arms trapped at his sides not unlike how he had Ari a few minutes ago. Except there's no way he's getting away from Sideswipe.

That doesn't stop him from trying. He struggles, more emotion brimming in his eyes as he practically growls. Fear. Desperation. Pleading.

Sideswipe squeezes him harder to make him stop but Ari holds up her hand. "Wait, Sideswipe, don't hurt him."

Sideswipe's optics blaze at her incredulously. "Don't hurt him? He just tried to kill you, and Lina, and he's probably the one who killed Fury."

"I don't think it's that simple, Sides," she mumbles, staring up at Bucky with a mixture of sadness and hope.

Bucky slumps in Sideswipe's grasp, like the surrender before a massive army, knowing a sword is about to come down on his neck. It makes Ari's heart clench, wondering how he got like this and almost afraid to find out.

"What's going on?" Lina says, coming out from around the corner, glancing up at Bucky curiously. "Why does that dude look so familiar?"

Ari takes a deep breath. "He should look familiar to you. If I'm right, that's Bucky Barnes."

"Bucky Barnes?" Lina squeaks, rounded eyes looking up at their captive accusingly. "Bucky Barnes just tried to kill me? Dude, what the Pit? You're supposed to be one of the good guys!"

Bucky doesn't answer, eyes and face going blank again as he hangs from Sideswipe's hand like a rag doll.

"Ari, are you sure?" Sideswipe asks gently, faceplates etched with doubt. "I mean, yeah, the resemblance is uncanny now that you point it out, but Bucky is supposed to be dead."

Ari slips her shoes back on, hearing the roaring of an engine in the distance and knowing without looking that their backup has finally arrived. "I know, guys, I know. But I've got a feeling I'm right. An AllSpark kind of feeling. And…I don't think this is all his fault. He needs help."

Sideswipe shrugs, still looking uncertain but willing to trust her. "If you say so, I guess."

He uses his other hand to flick a finger to the back of Bucky's head with a dull clang, knocking the man out cold.

Ari opens her mouth to protest and then snaps it shut. Yeah, it probably is better to have the potential assassin knocked out right now, no matter who he might actually be.

Sunstreaker reaches them first well ahead of the others, skidding to a halt and transforming to stand next to his brother. "Is everyone alright?" he asks, optics checking over everyone but bouncing back to Lina more than once.

Anger simmers around Lina like a coat of armor. "No, I'm not alright! Where the Pit were you? We could have seriously used the backup. Ari and I almost got shot and you were fragging nowhere!"

Sunstreaker's jaw clenches. "I was at the base when the call came in. I got here as fast as I could."

"That wasn't fast. And you call yourself a speedster." Lina scoffs, pivoting on her heel to turn away from him but they all still catch her hiss of pain.

"What happened?" Sunstreaker asks, a hard edge to his voice Ari has never heard before. He picks Lina up despite her loud protests, sitting her on his forearm. "Where are you hurt?"

Ari's brow shoots to her hairline. Sunstreaker doesn't touch "fleshies", as he likes to call humans. She's the only human he's ever willingly touched, and it took years for their relationship to get that far. Now here he is, _holding_ Lina in his arms with actual concern.

Lina doesn't realize the significance because she smacks at his shoulder, not hard enough to hurt herself but she is seriously unhappy. "I'm fragging fine! Now fragging put me the frag down!"

"Not happening. Tell me where you're hurt."

"And what are you going to do about it, kiss and make it better? You're not a med bot so put me down!"

Light shines over Lina from Sunstreaker's optics as he scans her, his scowl getting even darker at the results. "I may not be a med bot but my scans are still good enough to tell that you sprained your ankle. What did you do, twist it while running?"

Lina turns her nose up at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest and valiantly trying to hold on to her pride despite being held in an alien's arms high in the air against her will. "I've been running practically nonstop for the past hour. What did you expect?"

"Better than that since you managed in the sands of Egypt just fine. You need to stay in shape better. Have you considered jogging in the mornings?"

A screech of outrage escapes through Lina's barred teeth. "I am in perfectly good shape, thank you very much! Unlike some people, running for my life isn't a part of my day to day life."

"Doesn't look like it to me."

"Well, not by fragging choice. I had been trying to stay away from all this end of the world crap. Then I get asked to help with one little thing. One teeny little thing that, I was promised, should have been perfectly safe to do. And what do I get? Bullets and running and a sprained ankle." She slaps at him again, trying to wiggle free from his grasp and only hissing in pain again as she irritates her ankle. "Put. Me. Down!"

"It's not happening," Sunstreaker says, more serious than Ari has ever seen him before. "So you might as well just chill until we get to Ratchet. He'll have something for the pain."

"Next chance I get, I'm slapping your holoform right across the face, just mark my words," Lina grumbles, finally sitting still with her head leaning against Sunstreaker's shoulder. She heaves a sigh, shoulders slumping as she lets herself relax, and Ari swears she sees a little smile on her friend's face.

Ari and Sideswipe exchange wide-eyed glances.

" _I have never seen my brother act like this,"_ Sideswipe admits, voice breathless even across the bond. _"And his feelings are all over the place right now."_

" _I'm surprised he's letting you know how he feels at all."_

" _Oh, he's trying his best to block me, but he's just so_ loud _right now, he can_ _'t help it. Some stuff is still getting though and it…."_

Ari tilts her head at him curiously. _"What?"_

" _He actually cares about her, Ari. Like_ really _cares about her. It_ _…it reminds me of how I was when I first met you."_

Ari fights to keep the surprise off her face. _"So you think he really likes her. Maybe even potentially loves her?"_

" _I think he could be heading down that way, if he'd let himself."_

Ari bites her lip, watching her two friends who are stubbornly not looking at each other. She wants this for them, has for a long time, but she does also wonder about the consequences. The same consequences that held her back from loving Sideswipe in the beginning. Sunstreaker probably has a femme out there, a Cybertronian, who's his sparkmate and who he'll end up with one day. Someone who is not Lina, because Lina doesn't have the excuse of being the AllSpark. She can't bond with Sunstreaker like Ari has been allowed to do with Sideswipe.

And then there's Lina. Can she look past Sunstreaker's differences to humans? Ari suspects she already is, based on the faint blush dusting her cheeks, but will that be enough?

She wants them happy. But she doesn't want them breaking their hearts either.

Though, these obstacles are no different than what Ari and Sideswipe faced in the beginning, before they found out they were sparkmates. And they decided to have a relationship anyway. They decided to take the risks, because whatever the future brought, that made their feelings no less real. They loved each other. That was all that mattered.

Will that be enough for these two? Enough for them to act? Or will they not see the consequences as worth it?

Ari sighs, already able to tell that this is going to be a very long night. "Come on, guys. Let's head back to base and figure out what's going on."

Sunstreaker transforms, Lina letting out a squawk of protest as he does because he's still holding her. His parts transform around her until she's safe inside his alt mode. A moment later, the window rolls down, revealing an indignant Lina in the driver's seat. "Sideswipe, your brother is an aftpipe."

Sideswipe smirks in amusement. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Primus, can we just go already?" Sunstreaker asks, voice spilling out of his speakers.

Ari suppresses a chuckle, wondering if he's impatient to get back to base so he can get Lina out of his alt mode or because he's anxious to get her checked out. Although he'd never answer truthfully if she actually asked.

She joins Lina in Sunstreaker's alt mode, Sideswipe keeping Bucky contained alone inside his own alt mode just in case he wakes up. On the way back to base they run into the rest of their cavalry, a couple of Autobots and N.E.S.T. cars who fall into line around them just in case they run into any more trouble.

::Are you alright?:: Will asks through the comm link, probably from Optimus's alt mode, and it is a relief to hear her dad's voice.

"Yeah, we're fine," she breathes, running a hand through her hair. "Well, mostly okay anyway. We _were_ just shot at by a national hero and Lina sprained her ankle."

::I will take a look at it as soon as we return to base,:: Ratchet replies.

"Seriously, guys," Lina groans, "I'm fine. Stop fussing."

"You're not fine," Ari tells her firmly. "You could barely put weight on it after the adrenalin wore off. Ratchet can make your ankle better in a jiffy and you need to let him. Something tells me we've got a lot more running ahead of us."

Lina sighs, slumping in her seat. "Yeah. I get the feeling you're right."

::So what the Pit is going on anyway?:: Rob asks.

Ari and Lina exchange anxious glances. "Why don't you start at the beginning," Ari suggests.

"Right, um…." Lina bites her lip, wiping sweaty palms on her jeans. "Well, I guess it all started about three months ago when I got a phone call. It was a blocked number so I didn't answer it, but then it just kept ringing. I answered just to get them to shut up, intending to give whoever it was a piece of my mind. But it turned out to be Agent Coulson."

"Phil? What did he want?"

"Help. The illegal hacking kind, though he wouldn't tell me what I was hacking. Not until I agreed to help him. So, of course, I said no."

::Still don't like working for The Man?:: Sideswipe teases.

"Duh. And S.H.I.E.L.D. is worse than your typical government types. I've never liked them, they're too secretive and fishy, but then…." She rubs at her forehead, looking more tired than Ari has ever seen her. "But then he said that the fate of the world may be on the line. And you might be in the crosshairs."

"Us?" Ari asks, surprised. "Nothing's been going on lately. It's actually been kind of quiet. Our biggest threat lately has been Galloway, but he's just a pushy bully. Nothing we can't handle."

"He made it sound like something big. Really big. Bigger than you've ever faced and it's been going on in the shadows where no one can see, not even Director Fury. Something within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself."

::Like a mole?:: Optimus asks warily, memories of Lando and Anti-Alien still too close for comfort.

"That's what I thought, and they weren't sure who they could trust within the agency. So they reached out to the only hacker they know who's on the outside. They gave me access codes so I can get through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security and then it was up to me to get through the rest, fishing for anything fishy."

"Anything specific?" Ari asks, dread pooling in her belly. If there's a mole within S.H.I.E.L.D., an agency they trust with their lives and whom they've been working for, this could be very bad for them.

"Not really. I don't think even they know what they sent me after, just that I'd know when I found it and when I did, I'd call a number Coulson gave me. And then the other day, I found an encrypted file buried deep within the system, so deep I only found it by accident. I tried accessing it with the access codes Coulson gave me. They're supposed to give me Director-level access. But they didn't work."

::Now how can something be encrypted from even the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?:: Rob asks.

"There's some sort of artificial intelligence protecting the file, and it's smart. It keeps sending me on security loops. When I asked who authorized the encryption, it said Fury did. Even though he obviously didn't because then his codes would work. I knew I must have found whatever it is they sent me looking for so I copied the file onto a flash drive and called the number. Coulson set up a rendezvous point for us to meet up so I could give them the drive. But instead of Coulson, Fury showed up.

"And as soon as I got close to him a goon squad pounced on us." Lina stares out the windshield, chin shaking even though she's fighting against it. Her voice is thick when she speaks again. "Fury protected me. Even got hurt because of it. He got us away and we thought we were safe. But then a sniper shot him in the chest. He…he was so still. I tried to help him but the bullets kept coming and I…I left him there."

Lina's control over her tears break and they spill over in a torrent, her body shaking with sobs. Ari wraps her arms around her as best she can with the center console in the way, drawing Lina's head to her shoulder. "Hey, hey," she soothes, stroking Lina's hair. "It's okay. You're okay."

"I…I-I left him there."

"I know. But, Lina, you had to. You would have died if you didn't, and Nick wouldn't have wanted that. He would have wanted you to get away." Ari pulls back, lifting Lina's chin to force her to look at her. "Nick always acts with the greater good in mind, and that's just what he did. He needed you to get to us so we can figure out what's on that flash drive and figure out what's going on. He thinks…he thought the whole world is at stake. So we need to keep going so we can save it. We won't let him die for nothing."

Lina nods shakily, wiping at her face. "Yeah. I…I guess you're right. He wants us to stop them, so that's what we're going to do."

Ari smiles at the stubbornness in her friend's eyes. "There's the Lina I know. Ready to kick butt, no matter who's it is."

"And there are a lot of butts to be kicked. They're going to pay for this, Ari."

"And they will. As soon as we find out who they are and what they want."

::We're coming up on the base now:: Sunstreaker says, voice solemn, something they're all feeling. Nick wasn't just a boss or a coworker. He was their friend. He was family. He was even at Ari's and Sideswipe's wedding.

They made a mistake killing him.

::What the frag?:: Will says, voice colored in astonishment. Ari looks up to see what he's talking about and gasps.

They're just pulling through the gates of the base, and it is crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in tactical gear. They're gathering up equipment and rounding up soldiers, forcing everyone into the main hanger.

"What is going on?" Lina asks, voice tightening in fear, because she's thinking what they're all thinking. They very possibly have the proof that a mole is working inside of S.H.I.E.L.D., and now this. It's too much of a coincidence that they'd be here, but whoever ordered this, they'd have to be pretty high on the food chain.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Ari says darkly as they come to a stop in the main hanger. All the Autobots on base are standing in the middle of the hanger in their bipedal forms, surrounded by agents. The agents have their guns drawn, ready to fire at the Autobots at the slightest hint of retaliation.

The sight sets Ari's blood to a boil. This is too much like what Sector Seven did, reminding her of the night Sideswipe was taken. She won't let that happen again.

"You stay here," she tells Lina, reaching for Sunstreaker's door. "Sideswipe, stay in your alt mode. Keep Bucky hidden. We play our cards close to our chests until we find out what they're doing here."

" _Be careful,"_ Sideswipe tells her over the bond.

She sends him reassurance. _"Always."_

" _More like never. That's why I'm worried."_

" _What, you don't trust me?"_

" _Of course, I do, but you attract trouble like a fly to honey."_

" _Gee, thanks."_

She steps out of Sunstreaker's alt mode, quickly shutting the door behind her so no one can peek inside. Optimus transforms next to her, bending down to hold out a hand without a word. She climbs up, moving to sit on his shoulder in solidarity.

Whatever is happening, they'll face it together as the leader of the Autobots and Autobot Ambassador.

"What is going on here?" Ari asks, voice echoing across the hanger like thunder. The agents keep doing what they're doing without breaking stride but the soldiers and Autobots stop in their tracks, heads pivoting towards her and Optimus. They can practically feel lightening crackling in the air, knowing something is about to happen.

They know better.

"Who is in charge?" Ari demands, about ready to start cracking some heads if _someone_ doesn't stop to give her answers.

"That would be me," a snobbish voice answers, one that makes Ari groan. Galloway steps out of the crowd of agents, smug smile on his face and a briefcase dangling from his hand. He's always had a cocky, better-than-thou attitude when dealing with her before but now it seems worse.

His eyes twinkle with the satisfaction of a cat who's finally tasted the canary he's been chasing.

"Whatever you want, Galloway, it's going to have to wait," she tells him, having no patience for politeness. It probably won't matter anyway. "We have a bit of an emergency, so how about you and your friends just see yourselves out."

"I'm afraid, Ms. Lennox-"

"That's Ambassador Lennox to you," she snaps.

His smirk turns predatory. "No, I'm afraid it's not. Ms. Lennox, N.E.S.T. is being shut down, effective immediately. Meaning you are no longer needed as Autobot Ambassador."

Shouts of protest ring out but Galloway simply talks over them. "All N.E.S.T. personnel and Autobots are to cease any and all operations. You are to come with us _peacefully_ to the Triskelion where the soldiers will be redistributed amongst the branches of the military. I've already sent out agents to collect the rest of your little organization."

"And the Autobots?" Optimus growls. "What are your plans for us?"

Galloway raises his chin, refusing to be intimidated. "We are arranging for you to leave Earth. Your services are no longer required."

"By who's authority?" Ari asks, already dreading the answer.

"The World Security Council, of course," Galloway chuckles. "They voted on it this afternoon."

"No decisions regarding the Autobots and N.E.S.T. are to be made without my presence."

"That's only when we need your input and your input wasn't needed. By order of the treaty, the Council is allowed to decide _on its own_ whether or not N.E.S.T. is allowed to continue and if the Autobots are allowed to remain on Earth." He takes his glasses off, cleaning them with a handkerchief from his suit jacket while looking up at her condescendingly. "It's been decided. N.E.S.T. is being dissolved and the Autobots are no longer allowed on Earth. You are all to surrender to us immediately."

"Or else what?" Will asks, stubbornness written into every tense line of his body.

"Or else," Galloway places his glasses back on his nose, "we will have to use force. So what's it going to be?"

"This isn't right," Ari says, needing to voice the words even though they're falling on deaf ears. "What do you plan on doing when the Decepticons attack again?"

"We have...alternative means of fighting them now," he answers with a vague wave of his hand.

Ari narrows her eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's none of your concern. Not anymore. Oh, and one more thing." He reaches into his leather briefcase, taking out a file that looks very familiar. "I'm going to need you to come with me, Ms. Lennox. There are some issues with your file that I'd like to go over with you personally."

Ari's blood runs cold. Her file. Galloway has her file. He's _read_ her file.

It talks about her being the AllSpark in that file, which is why she's never given Galloway permission to read it. The Council was supposed to have it safely locked away. She doesn't trust Galloway with that information, but now...now he knows.

"How did you get that?" she asks, hands clenching into fists as she struggles to remain calm. Sideswipe's understanding panic over the bond isn't helping.

"The Council allowed me access after dismantling the treaty. You see, without the treaty, they can tell your dirty little secrets to whoever they want. And I want to know all about it."

Galloway grins—satisfied, triumphant, like a king who has conquered the kingdom he's been struggling against for years. It leaves no doubt in Ari's mind. Galloway is the traitor within S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury sent Lina searching for. That's what they'll find on the flash drive.

He's the one who killed Nick, and almost killed Lina. And he also has something to do with Bucky.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how she looks at it—she planned several contingencies for something like this.

"We can't let this happen," Ari says quietly, so only Optimus can hear.

He nods. "I know."

 _"We're not leaving this time, Ari,"_ Sideswipe reassures her over the bond. _"No fragging way. We're facing this with you."_

"Good," she whispers before taking out her Autobot pendant from beneath her dress. She pushes the black button to connect her to the general comm. "Listen up, everyone. This is Ari. I'm speaking to all of N.E.S.T. and the Autobots around the world. I know there are men there with you, agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. who are telling you to go with them. These are your orders."

She takes a deep breath, bracing herself. "Emergency Protocol Delta Six. I repeat, initiate Emergency Protocol Delta Six."

Ironhide shoots out his hand, activating a high-powered magnet that attracts all the guns in the room to him. The agents shout in protest, several of them trying to hang on to their guns and getting dragged across the floor for their efforts. The soldiers all lose their guns, too, but they know that's okay and let them go. Ari has hidden caches set up all around the world for them, just in case they were ever left without resources.

She never imagined she'd be using those caches for something like this though.

With the threat minimized, the soldiers fight back, using their fists to break away from the agents and get to the N.E.S.T. vehicles. The Autobots transform as well, allowing as many soldiers as they can carry to get in their alt modes.

"Stop them! Stop them!" Galloway shouts but Optimus pulls out his blaster, aiming it at him.

"You will allow us to leave peacefully," Optimus orders, voice gravely with the anger of a rockslide. "We do not wish for bloodshed, but I will do what is necessary to protect my people, both Autobot and human."

Instead of cowering, Galloway smirks with a dark gleam in his eye. He snatches the radio off of a nearby agent and talks into it. "This is Galloway. Bring in the big guns."

Well, that doesn't sound good. Especially when all the agents start to leave, including Galloway.

Something thumps outside, something loud and big, followed by a kind of whining noise that's almost familiar. After a moment, Ari places it. It sounds like a blaster charging up. A very, _very_ big blaster.

"Everybody out, now!" she yells, but it's too late.

Blaster fire the size of a cannon hits the building, taking out a large chunk of one wall and the roof. Debris crumbles down and Optimus quickly transforms before Ari gets hit, tucking her safely in his cab.

They roll out, dodging falling cement and metal as best they can as they make for the open hanger door. Ari clutches the seat beneath her as they swerve, Optimus's seatbelt snaking around her to click in place.

Sideswipe prods at her across the bond to make sure she's alright and she sends him reassurance.

They skid out of the building, heading for the front gate. Ari peers out the window, searching for whoever or whatever fired at them. She expects to find Cybertronian technology Galloway developed without their knowledge or approval.

What she finds is an actual Cybertronain running towards them.

::Did the Council side with the Decepticons or somethin'?:: Jazz asks over the comm.

::No,:: Ratchet replies, voice disturbed. ::His optics aren't red. They're green.::

::What the Pit do green optics mean?:: Rob shouts, sounding like he's itching for a gun.

::We all used to have green optics,:: Optimus says, somehow both awed and worried at the same time. ::Before we split into Autobots and Decepticons. Our optics changed colors when we divided.::

"So he's neither an Autobot nor a Decepticon?" Ari asks. Logically, that would mean he's neither good nor bad. He simply didn't pick a side in the war. But somehow that feels...wrong. "Do any of you recognize him?"

Silence descends over the comm.

"Anyone?"

::No,:: Optimus says gravely. ::We do not recognize him.::

A blaster fires behind them, followed by a _boom_ too close for comfort as it hits the road.

::Well, he definitely don't like us!:: Rob yells. ::He's shootin' at us!::

::We can figure everything out later,:: Will says, trying to project calm. ::Right now, let's just get out of here and regroup at the rendezvous point.::

She knows he's right, but this entire situation is getting more and more confusing. Lina, Nick, Bucky, Galloway, S.H.I.E.L.D., this Cybertronian. They're all pieces to the puzzle, a giant puzzle that Ari can't make heads or tails of right now. The pieces don't even seem to fit together.

But it all has to be connected. The question is, how?

And how terrifying will the picture be?

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Hello, Lockdown. Welcome to the party._

 _Yes, I have decided to do Age of Extinction, as a mashup with Winter Soldier. Which doesn't sound like it would work but, I've got to say, it's coming along rather nicely. Galloway does make a good bad guy, no?_

 _And before you can ask, NO, I will not be adding in the Autobots who starred in Age of Extinction. I get why they switched out characters like that in the movie. All of the older Autobots were dead and they couldn't just have Bee and Optimus. But, obviously, everyone is still very much alive and instead of having even more characters show up and giving everyone very little "screen time" so to speak, I'd rather just keep with the characters we already have. That's how they usually do books anyway. You don't leave other characters behind just to bring in new ones. And this is a lot of characters to juggle already anyway. Just look at Infinity War. They handled it beautifully but look at everyone's screen time. They all had very few lines, individually, except for maybe a few of the more major players. It's hard, guys. Very hard. So, no, not bringing any more people in._

 _Well, except for a certain soldier, but he's important to the plot of the fic. :)_

 _Bucky is one of my favorite characters from the MCU. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in my own little universe. I hope you all are, too._

 _Next chapter will be up Friday, May 25th. If I forget, you have permission to yell at me. I will be busy packing for a trip, now that I think about it, so forgetting is a possibility. I'll try my best to get it done though._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	3. Out of the Darkness

_**Author's Note**_

 _Hello again, everyone, and welcome back! It's good to see some familiar names. I'm glad you're all as excited as I am to get back to this universe._

 _There's a lot of talking this chapter as we bring in the rest of our main cast and set up for the reveal I'm sure most of you know is coming. All main characters that appear in this chapter are the only ones who will be showing up, with the exception of the Dinobots and one other Avenger. And if you do a head count, there are a **lot** of people. But I think I'm making it work okay._

 _Alright, go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Out of the Darkness**_

They split up, each taking a different route through D.C., but their mystery mech follows Ari and Optimus. Sideswipe doesn't like it, two seconds from turning around and joining them, but Ari gets him to keep his course. Bucky is too important to lose to whoever is behind all this. He's the key to finding out what's going on.

Besides, she trusts Optimus to keep her safe. And even though Sideswipe is reluctant, he trusts Optimus, too.

Their mystery mech is fast, his alt mode some kind of sports car that easily allows him to keep pace with Optimus's semi. But Optimus knows the city better than him, leading him through a winding trail around sharp turns that Ari is surprised even Optimus is able to make.

After one corner they gain a few precious seconds where they're out of his line of sight. Optimus squeezes down an alley, turning off his engine so they're completely obscured by darkness.

They wait, breath held, as the mech inches past their alley, looking for them. But he keeps going.

Optimus waits ten more minutes before moving again, making sure the mech has well and truly moved on. After that, they head out of the city, towards the rendezvous point. Ari keeps looking in the rearview mirror, expecting to see a pair of headlights gaining on them again, but they never appear.

Instead, she focuses on the next step of the plan. Which is finding out what, exactly, their next step is.

Emergency Protocol Delta Six is one of a dozen different protocols Ari concocted in the event the World Security Council and S.H.I.E.L.D. turned against them. This one orders everyone to scatter. To not give in and to run, so they can fight another day.

And they _will_ fight. Because there is no way they will let this stand.

The soldiers are to split off into their individual teams, at least one Autobot going with each just in case Decepticons come into play. As soon as they're away from the threat, they're to hit the caches to collect any weapons and money available and then they're to find a place to lay low until they get orders. Wheeljack's team has the Mind Stone and is to stay low unless absolutely necessary, keeping the Infinity Stone safe their top priority. The Autobots' comm link is secure, more secure than anything humans can come up with or hack, so they can still communicate freely.

Ari just doesn't know what to tell them yet. The Council was on their side. Ari's been on good terms with them lately. Never during any of her meetings has she seen evidence that they would turn on the Autobots. The only time that's ever happened was during Chicago, when the Council blamed the Autobots for Sentinel and the invasion of the Decepticons.

But the Autobots haven't done anything. Neither have the Decepticons, for that matter. So why now?

Just what did Galloway tell them? That's the only thing Ari can think of. Galloway said something to convince the Council that the Autobots are either hostile or no longer fit to protect the Earth. But what?

And then there's Bucky's involvement. Just what happened to him? He's been missing for, what, seventy years? And now he's working for the bad guys?

And just who are the bad guys? Is it just Galloway or does he have accomplices? And what, exactly, does he want? Then there's the mech who's not a Decepticon but not an Autobot. Why is he helping them?

So many questions, none of which are piecing together in Ari's head. Hopefully, there are answers on that flash drive of Lina's, but this…it's bigger than just Ari or N.E.S.T. or the Autobots. They're on the run from a secret government organization that's worldwide and with hundreds of resources. There's nowhere to hide that they won't be able to find them.

They need help. They have some avenging to do—for Nick.

And that reminds her of her favorite spies.

She whips out her phone, scrolling frantically through her contacts. If S.H.I.E.L.D. is really compromised, Phil, Clint, and Natasha could be in serious danger. All of a sudden, she's glad she let Wheeljack mess with her phone a couple months ago. At first, she was afraid he'd blow it up, but he actually managed to make it completely untraceable.

Who knows who could be listening.

"We're five minutes away from the others," Optimus lets her know, voice turning curious. "Who are you calling?"

"One of the few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents I know I can still trust," she says, listening to the dial tones ring out. "And maybe he has some of the answers."

The thing is, Phil doesn't pick up. No matter how many times she tries. According to Lina, Phil has been in on this with Nick since the beginning. He's already aware of the possible danger.

So does that mean he's busy trying to find more answers? Or were people sent to kill Phil as well?

She shakes those thoughts from her head. No, until she hears otherwise, she has to assume he's okay. He's a good agent. One of the best. He can take care of himself.

But she thought that about Nick, too.

Stomach twisting, Ari scrolls to another number in her contacts. This time, thankfully, the line connects.

"Make it quick, _kotyonok_ ," Natasha answers, breaths huffing like she's briskly walking somewhere. "I have to be on a quinjet in five minutes."

"No, you're not," Ari replies, inwardly cringing at what she's about to do. She's about to shake Natasha's whole world. "I've initiated Emergency Protocol Delta Six."

The line goes deathly quiet, her steps and breathing completely stopped. "They've turned on you?"

"It's worse than that. Nick is dead. And I think S.H.I.E.L.D. has something to do with it."

A steady stream of expletives flow through the phone as Natasha gets moving again. "Explain."

"It's too much to explain over the phone, but Fury died and then Galloway showed up at the base with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He shut us down and ordered all of us to turn ourselves in. He wants the Autobots to leave Earth and...he knows about me. He knows about the AllSpark."

Natasha's cursing turns to Russian, meaning her anger burns hotter than any language can handle but her native tongue.

"Yeah, I know." Ari turns in her seat so her back is to the door and she can put her feet on the bench seat, drawing her knees to her chest. "This feels bad, Nat. Our usual end of the world bad. It might be a good time to assemble and...I want you, Phil, and Clint to get out. I wouldn't put it past Galloway to use you guys to get to us. He knows we're friends. I'm not asking you to turn on S.H.I.E.L.D. or anything. I know what they mean to you, but I don't want you to get hurt. Just get out of town for a little while. Tell them you're going on vacation for once or something."

"No, _sestrenka_. Whatever this is, we are with you. Family is more important. We want _you_ safe."

Ari closes her eyes in relief for a moment. "Thank you."

"It is nothing," she brushes off, starting to sound less like Natasha and more like the Black Widow. "I will gather the others, but Clint and Phil will be a problem. They're both on their own missions."

Unease tightens Ari's stomach. She expected that answer about Phil if he was doing things with Nick, but she didn't know about Clint. "Blackout protocol?"

"Unfortunately. I don't know where they are or when they're supposed to return, but I have some non-S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts I can reach out to. And I'll leave them both coded messages on their phones for whenever their missions end. We'll warn them, one way or another."

"That'll have to do," Ari sighs, trying to shove her worry to the back of her mind. There's nothing she can do for them. She needs to focus on the people she _can_ help. "Do you know a place we can meet up and maybe rest of the night?"

"Yeah, I have several safe houses no one knows about, not even S.H.I.E.L.D. I'll send you the coordinates."

"Oh, really?" It brings an idea to mind, a way to relieve at least one of her worries. "How many do you have exactly?"

"About a dozen clear across the globe. Remnants of my practices while I was in Red Room but I keep maintaining them just in case. And just so I can get away for a little while, sometimes, without anyone able to find me."

"Then can we borrow one more of them?"

"For who?"

"My mom and sister. They're at the brownstone in D.C. and I know Galloway is probably talking to them right now, or he will be soon. Can you make sure they slip away and get somewhere safe?"

"Consider it done. I'll talk to the others about Pepper, Jane, and Darcy as well."

A small amount of tension leaves Ari's shoulders. It's not a lot, but it's something. One less weight slowing her down and keeping her from focusing on whatever's going on. "Thank you. We'll see you soon, _sestra_."

* * *

Optimus sends the safe house coordinates to the rest of their team for Protocol Delta Six, which consists of Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz for the Autobots and Will, Rob, Trent, John, and Evie for the soldiers. More Autobots and less soldiers than the rest of the teams now scattered around the world but they're the ones in charge of coming up with the plan while everyone else stays in hiding, waiting for orders.

Ari just hopes they can come up with a plan in time, before anyone is found.

The drive is long, about two hours for the Autobots, ending somewhere in Pennsylvania, of all places. Doesn't seem like the place a spy would set up shop, but that's probably the point. No one will look for them in the middle of farmland.

Everyone piles out of the alt modes, stiff and sore since they didn't take any pitstops along the way. Ari's pretty sure they're all fugitives now and she, especially, will be easily recognizable.

The entire world is looking for her. Again. Except this feels a lot worse than Egypt.

Sideswipe's holoform flickers on right next to her, his arm going around her waist to pull her close. She leans into him gratefully, having missed him after being separated for so long.

"How you holding up?" he asks, lips moving against her forehead.

"Alright, considering," she says, trying to hold in a sigh and failing. "Tonight was not supposed to turn out like this."

He presses a kiss to the top of her head. "I know. I was going to take you dancing."

She looks up at him wistfully. "Really?"

"Yeah. Proper dancing, not that jump and grind stuff they do in clubs. Steve told me of a place he found not far from the restaurant I took you to. It's styled after the 1940s. Décor, music, dance floor, the works."

"Maybe we can try again when all this is over." She looks down at her dress, holding out the skirt. "Hopefully I can find a change of clothes before there's any more running so I won't ruin this dress. And I could use a shower."

"Primus, I would _kill_ for a shower right now," Lina moans, placing her hands at the small of her back and bending backwards until there's a pop. She seems to be standing on her own okay but she's still leaning most of her weight on her uninjured foot. "Please tell me there's a shower in this place somewhere."

"I don't know," Ari muses, making a mental note to get Ratchet to look at Lina's ankle once they're settled. The safe house, apparently, is a farm, though not a working farm like Ari's home back in Nevada. This place probably was, at one point. Now, it looks completely abandoned, the house held up by a few rotting planks of wood and a prayer. The barn isn't so bad, but the paint is all chipped away and it's listing to one side. The field behind it may have grown corn at one point but it's all dead now.

The whole place looks like the set of a _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ movie, not the lair of one of the greatest spies in the world.

"Is there even anyone here?" Evie asks, rubbing at her arms. "Kinda gives me the creeps."

Lina shakes her head. "This is nothing. You should have been at the warehouse I ended up in. _A lot_ creepier than this. At least there are no bullets here."

"Yet," John adds with a sly grin.

Trent hits his shoulder with the back of his hand, giving John a small glare. "Not helping."

"Speaking of bullets." Ari looks up at Sideswipe curiously. "How's our guest doing?"

Sideswipe shrugs sheepishly. "Okay, I guess. I've…kinda kept him knocked out."

Ari arches a brow at him.

"What!" He raises his hands defensively. "What did you expect me to do? I know who he was, but right now, he's set on killing us all. I didn't want him trying to break out."

Sunstreaker's holoform turns on next to Lina, letting out a snort. "You mean you didn't want him trying to break you."

"Who is knocked out?" Ratchet asks in concern, the rest of the Autobots turning on their holoforms as well.

"It's a long story," Ari says, rubbing at the back of her head sheepishly. She didn't really tell anyone all that much yet, wanting to get everyone together in one place first so she only has to explain once. Explaining Bucky _at all_ is going to be hard enough as it is.

"It's the guy who was trying to kill Lina," Sunstreaker deadpans with a scowl.

"And he's in Sideswipe's alt mode why?" Will asks, waiting for someone to elaborate.

Ari sighs. "I'm…honestly not entirely sure. I don't know exactly what's going on with him but…look, let's just find everyone else for now and I'll explain later. I'd rather only go through this once."

And maybe with everyone together, they can help her figure the rest of this out.

"Good, you made it," a voice says right behind John, making him jump. Natasha steps around him with a smirk, wearing civilian clothes of jeans and a t-shirt under a leather jacket. She slipped right into their group without notice.

John presses a hand to his chest, breathing fast as he spins on her. "Slaggit, don't _do_ that!

Natasha's smirk widens. "But it's so much fun."

"Not for me, it isn't. Fragging spy. Why am I friends with you?"

"You know you love me," she winks. "Now come on. This way."

She leads them over to the barn, opening the barn doors all the way to reveal a mostly empty space with a handful of empty animal stalls in the back. "There should be enough room for all of your alt modes in here," she offers. "And don't worry. It may look rundown but I promise you, everything is structurally sound."

While the Autobots get themselves inside, Natasha leads the rest of them to an animal stall in the far-left corner. It reeks with the smell of manure and death, making Ari's nose screw up in disgust. Natasha walks right through it completely unfazed, running her hand along the back wall. She presses a finger firmly against a certain spot in the wood, making something audibly click. Another panel of wood right next to her hand _whooshes_ open, revealing a keypad and retinal scanner.

Huh. This place definitely isn't as rundown as it looks.

Natasha punches in a code, lowers her head for the eye scan, and then there's another click, a lot louder than the first. It's really less of a click and more of a _thunk_ , like a tumbler in a vault door sliding open.

"Hey!" John yells in surprise as the ground beneath his feet begins to move. He stumbles backwards as a hatch slides open, musty hay falling into the hole. Lights in the room below them flicker on, revealing a narrow staircase leading down.

The Autobots' holoforms reappear around them, Optimus nodding in approval. "This is an impressive safe house. No one has ever suspected this was here?"

Natasha gives a satisfied smirk, leading the way down. "Nope. I own this place under an alias and as far as the locals are concerned, they believe this place has been abandoned for decades. Clint's helped me make improvements since I met him, plus adding a few traps of his own to keep any curious riffraff out. We'll be safe here."

The stairs end in a massive room, looking like it's just as big as the barn above them. There's shelves off to the left lined with weapons and supplies, ready for a quick taking if they're in a hurry and on the run. A couple of couches sit to the right along with a T.V., making the space a bit homey in case they're stuck here for a while.

In the back is a kitchen area with shiny new appliances, as well as a table where a good helping of their friends sit anxiously. Bruce and Steve sit next to each other, talking quietly in nervous whispers. Thor sits a little ways away from them, Loki right next to him with both of them in Midgardian clothes of shirts and jeans that make them look strangely normal. Jane's hunched over on Thor's other side, scribbling furiously into a notebook, Darcy fruitlessly trying to coax the scientist to let the sciencing go for a little while.

Ari wonders for a moment why those two are here and not at the safehouse with the rest of their civilian friends, and then quickly drops it. Darcy and Jane have never been the types to run when there's danger and people needed saving. They didn't do that when Thor landed and they're not about to start now.

Tony's leaning back in his seat, balanced on the back two legs of the chair with his feet propped up on the table. At the sound of their footsteps he looks up, sighing impatiently and plonking back down on all fours. "Finally. What took you so long?"

"Save it, Tony," Ari says wearily, plonking down in an empty seat. The rest of the humans take seats as well, the holoforms standing around them with Sideswipe right behind her. He places a hand on her shoulder and she places her hand on top of his. "We've had a long night."

"What happened?" Steve asks, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.

Lina blinks rapidly, taking a good look at the people around the table. "Dude, are these the _Avengers_?"

"Who did you think we were going to for help, the cops?" Sunstreaker asks sarcastically. He grips the back of Lina's chair and turns it around so she's perpendicular to the table, making her yelp and clutch the sides of her seat to keep her from falling out of it.

"Stop manhandling me!" she demands but Sunstreaker ignores her, squatting down and gingerly lifting her hurt ankle. She hisses in pain, wincing slightly.

"Ratchet, you mind taking a look at his?" Sunstreaker says, rolling up Lina's pant leg and carefully slipping off her shoe. "Pretty sure her ankle's sprained."

"Of course. Let me just get a few supplies from my alt mode." Ratchet's holoform flickers off, walking back down the stairs a few moments later with a black medical bag in hand. He sits on the floor in front of Lina, resting her foot gently on his knee. "Let's take a look see."

"Now can we have story time?" Tony asks, fingers tapping a staccato rhythm on the tabletop. "Or are there more of your people coming?"

"No, it's just us," Will tells him. "Everyone else has gone dark until further notice."

"What happened?" Jane asks, setting her science aside for a much darker mystery. "Natasha said something about N.E.S.T. getting shut down?"

Ari nods. "Yeah, but all of this didn't start tonight. Lina?"

Lina takes a deep breath, trying not to react as Ratchet prods around her ankle and focusing on the conversation. "Coulson got in touch with me a few months back, wanting my help with something. Him and Fury suspected something bad's been going down inside of S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe even a mole. They didn't know who to trust so they sent me searching within the system trying to find anything."

"Why did they go to you and not me?" Tony asks, completely offended. "I could have found out in two seconds."

"You're too close to this, Tony," Natasha says, body tense as soon as the word "mole" left Lina's mouth. "If there is a mole, they probably have eyes on you and would have known right away what you were up to. Really, a civilian was the better choice."

"Anyway," Lina continues, hissing again as Ratchet rubs some sort of cream into her ankle. "I found something, an encrypted file I couldn't get into, not even with Fury's access codes. It's protected by some sort of A.I. that's been giving me the run around. I figured it would have the answers we were looking for so I copied the file and called the number I was given to set up a meeting to hand it off."

She takes out the flash drive, setting it on the table, her eyes staying fixed on it somberly. "Fury showed up to the meeting. But before I could give it to him we were jumped by these thugs. Professional types. I'm tempted to even say S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, even though they weren't wearing any kind of logo or patch on their gear. F-Fury died so that I could get away."

She stops, letting that sink in. Everyone at the table has met Nick. Some of them—like Natasha, Tony, and Steve—are even friends with him. And now he's gone.

Ari takes up the story when it becomes apparent Lina won't continue. Or can't. "That's when she called me. Sideswipe and I were already out in the city so we were able to get to her first. But then someone else found us." She bites her lip, not sure how to say this part. "A-A sniper. Sideswipe and I were able to stop him. He's knocked out in Sideswipe's alt mode right now."

"Then we should speak with him," Thor says, lightning practically flashing in his eyes when he says the word "speak". "He may be able to give us answers."

"It's…a bit complicated. But I'm not done." Sideswipe squeezes her shoulder in encouragement and she leans into his touch. "We headed back to base after that. When we got there, it was crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Galloway. He shut us down, wants the Autobots to leave Earth, and…and he knows. About me. About me being the AllSpark."

"I thought you gave no one permission to know that secret without your approval?" Loki says, more statement than question.

"He said with the dissolution of the treaty the Council is now allowed to tell whoever they want, including Galloway. He's got my file and he's _very_ interested in what it says." She rubs her hand across the AllSpark marks on her arm, like she can feel Galloway dissecting them. "Whatever's going on—whether it be a mole or something else—Galloway's behind it. I'm sure of it."

"Why would they just shut you down like that?" Darcy asks, picking at a loose thread in the sleeve of her sweater. "I mean, the Council gets that we kind of need you guys, right? You're the world's best chance against the Decepticons."

"I get the feeling that has something to do with Galloway's new pet," Rob snorts. "He sicced a fragging Cybertronian on us trying to bring us in."

"A Decepticon?" Jane gasps. "They're working with Decepticons?"

"I do not believe so, no," Optimus replies, brow furrowed in thought. "This Cybertronian has green optics, like what all of our species had before the war. I believe him to be neutral of the two factions, but I do not think he is anyone's pet either. He will surely have his own agenda, but what he can gain from humans such as Galloway and the Council, I do not know."

"Then let's ask this 'guest' of ours," Tony declares, rising to his feet to head for the alt modes. "I bet he's got some idea."

"It's not so simple," Ari insists, rushing to her feet to stop him with a hand on his arm. "Seriously, Tony, there's...there's more."

He tries to step around her but she gets in his way, blocking him from the stairs. He sighs impatiently. "Like what?"

"Just...Just go sit down." She points at the table when he doesn't move, giving him a withering look. "Trust me, you're going to want to sit down for this."

"Do you know him or something?" Natasha asks curiously as Tony retakes his seat, getting so close to the truth like she always does.

"In a manner of speaking." Ari rubs a hand down her face, eyes falling on Steve. This is going to be hard for him. It doesn't matter how gently she says it. Bucky was his best friend. He watched him _die_ decades ago. But now...it turns out he didn't. He survived, only to turn into...this.

Actually, forget hard. This may very well break him. But he has to know.

Ari sits down in the empty seat to Steve's right, taking his hand. She's not sure if it's for his comfort or her own. Instead, it seems to just make him nervous as he squirms in his seat.

"What's going on, Ari?" he asks, voice reflecting the anxiety he's subconsciously feeling.

"I just," she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "I don't know how to say this, really. So I guess I'll just...say it. The sniper that shot at Lina and I tonight, the one Sideswipe has trapped in his alt mode right now. Once I got a good look at his face, I recognized him."

"Who is it?" Natasha asks, looking itchy for a blade at the belief that someone has betrayed them.

"It's..." She hesitates again and then steels her resolve. It's better to just rip off the band-aid. Which is just a ridiculous saying because that really doesn't make it hurt any less. "It's Bucky Barnes."

A penny could drop and it would sound like a bomb going off.

"Are you talking about the same Bucky Barnes I'm thinkin' of?" Rob asks, bewildered.

Ari nods. "James Buchannan Barnes. Howling Commando during World War II. Yeah, that's the one."

John snaps his fingers in recognition, pointing his finger at her. "Yeah, I remember him from history class. He was a sharpshooter, right? And he was best friends with…."

His words trickle off as all eyes turn to Steve.

Steve's face is pale, eyes wide like he's seen a ghost. And maybe he has. He's got that far away look like he's remembering something, something painful by the way his brow is pinched. He watched Bucky die and now his best friend has come back to life.

But as what?

"Show me," Steve chokes out, standing so abruptly his chair nearly tumbles backwards. Ari simply nods silently, leading the way back upstairs to the barn.

Sideswipe is already transformed into his bipedal form when they get there, hands cupped together in a firm yet gentle grip. He kneels down, pulling one hand away so they can see the man he's holding.

If Ari had any doubts before about who this man is, they're gone now, seeing him sleeping peacefully. While awake, Bucky had this strange emptiness about him, but now. He seems so…careless. Innocent. _Young_ , despite how old logic says he is. The spitting image of the pictures she's seen of Bucky Barnes.

Steve crumbling to his knees in front of him, tears streaming down his face, only confirms it.

"But…But he's _dead_ ," he whispers desperately, like he's hoping it to be true and not be true all at the same time. Ari really isn't sure what's worse for him. The thought that his best friend is dead or the thought that he's still alive—has been all this time—but he apparently left him at the bottom of that mountain to rot.

"How is this even possible?" Evie asks, blinking rapidly like her mind is playing tricks on her.

"I don't know," Lina says with a glare, leaning most of her weight against Sunstreaker to keep off her bandaged foot. "But he tried to kill me tonight so what I'd like to know is, why is he suddenly the bad guy? I mean, he wasn't always a bad guy, right?"

"Of course not!" Steve wipes at his face angrily, standing back up and facing them like he's shielding Bucky with his body. "Bucky is one of the best guys I know! He would never-"

"Never what, Cap?" Tony interrupts, hand tightening around the briefcase he's holding—the folded-down version of the Iron Man suit. "He'd never shoot at people? He'd never work for the bad buys, whoever the frag they are now? Well, tough luck, grandpa, because it looks like he is! Unless you're saying Ari's a liar."

"No, it's just…." Steve looks at her helplessly, begging for her to give him an explanation that makes sense without painting his friend as a monster. "Maybe you just made a mistake. Maybe he was just trying to help."

Pity swells in Ari's chest, unable to imagine how hard this must be for him. "I wish it were true, Steve. Sure, I never saw him shoot at us, but he did fight me. I waited for him to catch up to buy some time and he…he threw the first punch."

Steve's head hangs, defeat weighing down his shoulders.

"I've seen him before," Natasha mumbles quietly, fiddling with a knife in her hand and eyes trained on Bucky's metal arm. "I know him."

"What? When?" Steve rounds on her, voice rising in accusation and eyes flaring with hurt. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I didn't know he was your friend," she adds defensively, squaring her shoulders and looking just as intimidating as Steve even though he towers over her. "In case you forgot, I didn't have a traditional upbringing that allowed me to have a school education. I didn't even step foot on American soil until I was an adult. All of you may have grown up with Bucky's picture in your textbooks, but I didn't. I never knew what he looked like. You never even showed me a picture of him, so _back up_."

Steve's shoulders drop out of the offensive but he doesn't apologize, instead saying, "Where do you know him from?"

She flips her knife in the air absently, eyes cutting to Bucky again. "From the Red Room."

"The people who trained you to be a Black Widow?" Bruce asks, brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Yes." She looks to the others standing in the room, a tightness around her eyes the only sign that she's uncomfortable. Not everyone here knows Natasha's past, but…she started this conversation and the information is relevant now. She continues what she started. "The Red Room was an organization in Russia. They kidnapped children—little girls—and trained them to be…assassins. We were called Black Widows.

"From an early age we were trained in the arts of seduction, manipulation, and combat. Since they took us at such an early age, we were easily manipulated ourselves. It was a different kind of brainwashing, in a way.

"One day, when I was in my late teens, they brought a man in," she nods towards Bucky. "They called him the Winter Soldier and said he was on loan to us from the Germans. He was there to help train us, those who were ready to go on to the final stages of the Black Widow program.

"He and I grew close. He knew I wasn't like the other girls, that there was a streak of defiance in me. Of independence. And I could sense the same in him. He tried to help me escape from the Red Room. We were caught. I was taken back and severely punished. And I never saw him again. At least, not until after I started working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"There was a mission I worked, escorting a scientist. It was my job to keep him safe, but we were ambushed. The Winter Soldier was sent to kill my scientist and he succeeded." She lifts up her shirt, revealing a small circle of scar tissue near her hip bone. "Shot him right through me. Both times I saw him—when I was a girl and a few years ago—he looked exactly the same even though there's more than a decade of time between. He looks to have aged only a year or two since I first saw him."

"Was he working for them willingly?" Steve asks, stepping closer to Natasha with the intensity of a dying man begging for food. "You said he helped you escape. Do you think they coerced him into helping them?"

Natasha shrugs a shoulder helplessly. "I honestly don't know. But he's killed many, many people in the past seventy years. He probably even killed Fury tonight. There is a lot of red in his ledger, Steve."

"So what do we do now?" Bruce asks, getting them back on track. "We need information from him, at the very least."

Loki smirks darkly. "I have some spells that could extract what we need from him."

"No, guys, wait," Ari says, standing next to Steve in a protective stance in front of Bucky. "It's still not that simple."

"He tried to kill you and Lina," Sunstreaker growls, his arm around Lina tightening as he holds her up. "How is that not simple?"

"Because when I realized who he was, I said his name. I called him by his name and he looked at me like I have two heads. He didn't recognize it. His own name, and he didn't even know it."

"So does that mean it's not Bucky?" Steve asks, both hoping and dreading.

"No, I think it is him," she says, even more sure of her suspicions after Natasha's story. "But I think there's more going on here than meets the eye."

"So what do we do, ask him about it?" Jazz snarks.

"If he doesn't know his own name, he probably won't be all that helpful," Trent points out.

Thor crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Then what do you suggest?"

Ari bites her lip, not even sure her plan is going to work, but it feels right this time. Like it did with Loki. "I'm going to use the AllSpark to find out the truth. I'll look into his past and see what happened to him."

"Dude, is that a _metal arm_?" Darcy's voice cuts across the room, eyes darting to her and then back to Bucky as everyone else notices it for the first time.

"I think it is," Jane agrees, only a bit more curious than horrified.

Will approaches cautiously, poking the appendage. "It is. It's metal. And I think it's his actual arm. It's not armor or anything. It's an actual mechanical arm."

"You sure he's not a Decepticon?" Trent asks again to be sure.

"Here, allow me." Ratchet stands in his bipedal form, carefully taking Bucky from Sideswipe. A red light shines from his optics over Bucky as he scans him. "Hmmm, interesting. He's definitely human. The arm is some sort of advanced prosthesis. It's wired into his body, connecting even to his brain. And his shoulder has healed around it, fusing with the metal. Based on the progression, I'd say he lost his real arm decades ago."

The furrow in Steve's brow deepens, guilt blanketing his face in shadow. "You mean when he fell from the train? When I thought he died?"

"That would be my estimation, yes."

"But he still looks like he's in his late twenties, maybe early thirties," Darcy protests. "He'd be, what, ninety if he was really that old?"

"So would Capsicle if he hadn't been frozen," Tony points out.

Sideswipe holds up his hand before someone else can speak. "Look, this speculation is great and all, but let's just let Ari do her thing. She'll be able to tell us for certain what happened."

Natasha nods, still holding her knife but no longer playing with it. "What do you need?"

"Just a place to sit and a bit of time," Ari replies. "Ratchet, keep Bucky in your alt mode for now, and keep him sedated. He'll be as comfortable as possible that way."

Ratchet transforms, Bucky ending up in the back of his rescue vehicle alt mode and probably laid out on the gurney inside. Ratchet's holoform blinks back on, opening his door. "I'll do a full scan of him as well. Make sure he is alright."

"Should we really be concerned with his comfort right now?" Tony asks, the type of murderous anger burning in his eyes that only ever appears for terrorists.

"Until we know the truth, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt," Ari says, heading back downstairs to their makeshift command center. She sits in one of the chairs, trying to get as comfortable as possible herself. There's no telling how long this will take.

Lina sits down heavily in one of the seats, trying not to twitch as Sunstreaker fusses over her and props her leg on another chair. "He did try to kill me, you know."

Ari sighs, weary of arguing. "And he tried to kill me, too, but something doesn't feel right about all this. Something more is going on."

Everyone looks skeptical except for Steve and Sideswipe. Steve looks despondent with a dash of hopeful, praying none of this is Bucky's fault despite the facts laid before him. Sideswipe—back in his holoform again—gives her an encouraging smile, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"You'll figure this out, sweetspark," he says, completely confident in her. It's nice that someone's confident in her. She's not that confident in herself at the moment, in light of everything that's happened. Everything she missed even though it was right in front of her face.

She tilts her face up, stealing a proper kiss from him before he settles at her side. "See you when I get back."

Ari closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and then delves into her hallway of doors. Everything else around her is tuned out. She doesn't feel the chair beneath her. If the others are talking, she doesn't hear them. Even her bond with Sideswipe feels far away. Right now, it's just her and the AllSpark.

She's not sure what she's looking for. There's so much information at her fingertips, all organized into different doors, but which door? Which door?

One of the doors down the hall creeks open, beckoning her in.

The AllSpark knows what she needs to see. It wants to show her, but Ari hesitates, trepidation prickling along her spine.

There isn't good news beyond this door. It is bad, horrible, heart-wrenching news. She can feel it seeping from the crack in the door like a thick smoke, choking her lungs with the urge to cry even though she doesn't know what for yet.

The AllSpark pulls her in anyway, uncaring about her hesitation.

There's a train, racing along the side of a mountain. Bucky is there. Steve, too, along with the other Hollowing Commandoes.

It's the 1940s, the middle of WWII.

They're mission is to stop Hydra—a division of the Nazis focused on using science and technology to create better soldiers, better weapons. They use things advanced for their time. Alien things, like the Tesseract. With their weapons, Hydra plans something worse than even the Nazi's vision. They don't just plan the genocide of those they see as inferior. They plan domination, the complete control of everyone so they can remake the world into their idea of "perfect" and "peaceful".

Peace through the loss of freedom.

But the Hollowing Commandoes are working to stop them, to stop Hydra before they can make the war even worse. Their current mission, the one on the train, they're looking for one of Hydra's leaders. They want information from him, so they decided to sneak aboard the train he's traveling on and carry him right off.

But something goes wrong. There's a fight with some Hydra soldiers, and Bucky falls. He falls from the train, down the mountain. To his death.

At least, it should have been.

He survived, lying in the snow, his left arm…gone. Severed during the fall.

But how did he even survive? He _should_ have died.

The AllSpark suddenly takes her even further back, flashing to a Hydra facility where prisoners of war are being experimented on. Including Bucky, before Steve rescued him and the others trapped there. They're looking for the Super Soldier Serum, the one that was given to Steve and made him Captain America. They're trying to perfect their own version of it using trial and error.

It works on Bucky. Not to the same extent as Steve, more like what happened to Natasha with the Russians, but it was enough. Enough for him to survive an impossible fall.

Ari gets yanked again, back to the snow. Someone finds Bucky. At first, he thinks its friendlies, but they're not. They're Hydra. He's taken again. He wants to die but they don't let him. They put that arm on him, that weapon, and then they strap him to a chair.

Electricity courses through him, so much more than what a normal human should be able to stand. But he's not normal, not anymore. He can withstand a lot more. They feed that electricity right into his brain and then he's not even Bucky anymore. He's blank. A blank slate ready to be filled with new ideas.

Hydra ideas.

They program him, using a combination of hypnosis and more electric shocks until he follows their every command without question. When he's battle ready, they tell him he's to be the new fist of Hydra, that he'll help shape the century by being a surgical tool. They send him in to eliminate targets that threaten Hydra's goal of a new world and then they put him in a cryotube, freezing him into stasis until he's needed again. That's how he's survived the decades.

But this can't be. Hydra is supposed to be gone. Steve killed its leader. S.H.I.E.L.D. dismantled it, back in the early days of the organization. There can't be any more Hydra to still be giving Bucky orders.

And yet there are. Where could they have hidden, all this time?

Images flash in front of Ari's eyes, almost too fast for her to make out. Faces and names and news clippings. Former Hydra operatives standing in a group photo with other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Standing with them. Among them.

Her vision fills with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, a stylized eagle with its wings spread. Like it's acting as a protector, shielding the world from the evil hiding just out of sight. That shield then cracks, inky shadow leaking out of the weaknesses until the whole logo shatters.

And in its place, hiding behind it all this time, is Hydra's symbol—a skull with six octopus legs reaching out to corrupt all it touches.

Hydra, hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D..

Ari screams as more and more knowledge of what Hydra's done over the past several decades spills out of the door and into her head. Names and missions and agents and victims. So much death. So much chaos. All under the guise that it's to protect people. It bombards her, drumming into her skull with a painful ache like she's getting hit with a hammer over and over again.

They were supposed to be doing good. S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposed to be doing good. But Hydra's always been there, pulling the strings from the shadows. How many innocent people have suffered because of them? How many good agents and soldiers have been led to do something wrong while thinking they were doing something right?

Hands grab her. Someone calls her name. Sideswipe. That's Sideswipe. The visions have swallowed her, the knowledge still coming fast, but she can feel Sideswipe reaching out to her over the bond, trying to pull her out. She grabs onto him, following the line of their bond like a rope to pull her to safety.

She blinks a few times, the light of the safe house piercing through the images.

"Ari?" Sideswipe asks, fear and panic in his blue eyes as clear as across the bond. "Ari, sweetspark, talk to me. What's wrong?"

The pain spikes again and she whimpers, feeling her mind start to shut down because it can't turn it off. But she has to tell them. She has to warn them what's coming for them. How can she make them understand?

She catches sight of Steve standing a little ways away, looking lost and broken but still managing to be worried about her. He'll understand. He'll understand completely. Hydra has always been his enemy, since he first got started as Captain America.

She tries to get the words out but she's getting weak, losing to the darkness. All she manages to get out are two words, spoken desperately as tears leak from her eyes before it all goes black.

"Hail Hydra."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Yeah, I'm a bad person. But you love me anyway. ;)_

 _So, Hydra is alive and well, as I'm sure most of you already knew. If you haven't seen Captain American: Winter Soldier and don't know much about Hydra, further explanations will be taking place next chapter, so don't worry._

 _But, yes, Galloway is Hydra. I've been planning that for a while._

 _And look at that character lineup. I tried to keep all the favorites. Sticking with the original Autobot team felt right to me, we've got to have all the Avengers-including Loki-and I kept favorite N.E.S.T. soldiers. As for Jane and Darcy, seriously, they're not the type to stay on the sidelines. They weren't during their two Thor movies. And Darcy is going to be part of a minor plot arc. I'm a fan of Bucky/Darcy. ;)_

 _Next chapter will be up in two weeks, on June 8th._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	4. Prisoner of War

_**Author's Note**_

 _Alright, another update day. Sorry this is later in the day than I've posted previously. It's actually June 9th for some of you, but it's still the 8th where I am. I'm East Coast USA so it's only about 6pm here. I post of Fridays because it's my day off work but I went on an impromptu trip to Universal Studios. I just got back a little bit ago. But I got straight to posting as soon as I could._

 _So, go onward and enjoy!_

 _ **Prisoner of War**_

Ari groans as she comes back to consciousness. That was the worst experience with the AllSpark she's had since gaining marks. But gaining marks was a quick, sharp pain that came on as her body changed, over as quickly as it began.

This is a lingering ache, like she overstretched a muscle.

Suddenly, Sideswipe is there, soothing the ache in her mind using the bond until it recedes from a pounding drum to a slight tapping on her brain. She sighs in relief, burying her face in the shoulder of his holoform.

That's when she notices the yelling.

"What the frag was that?" Tony asks, growling with a hint of hysteria. "Why did she say that?"

"I don't know, Stark," Will sighs, sounding like not for the first time.

"That's what they said. That's what Hydra used to say. It was like-like they're battle cry or calling card or something. Why would she say it?"

" _What's going on?"_ Ari asks Sideswipe along the bond, not feeling strong enough just yet to use her actual voice.

" _I think Tony might think you're Hydra,"_ Sideswipe grumbles, offended on her behalf. His arms tighten around her where she sits on his lap, cradled against his chest. _"Which is ridiculous. Like you would really be Hydra, even if they were still around. Seriously, though, why did you say that?"_

She winces inwardly. _"Yeah, maybe not my best idea, but I had to warn you guys somehow."_

" _Warn us about what?"_

" _We're in a lot more trouble than we thought, Sides."_

Natasha cuts Tony off from whatever he was saying, dissolving into a litany of Russian that's…not nice at all.

" _Wow. She only insults in Russian when she's really ticked. Just how long was I out?"_

" _Only about ten minutes."_ He buries his face in her neck, taking in a shuddered breath. _"You were screaming. You were screaming so much and I felt your pain, but I couldn't find a cause. Ratchet either."_

She smiles softly, sending him reassurance and love over the bond as she lifts a hand to card her fingers through his hair. Hopefully, no one has noticed she's awake yet. Or at the very least, they'll give her a few minutes. _"I'm fine, Sideswipe. Yeah, it hurt_ _and I wasn't expecting it, but I needed to see that stuff._ _"_

" _But why were you in pain? Looking at the knowledge never caused you pain before."_

" _I think the AllSpark just...showed me too much, all at once. It may have changed my body to accommodate it but this is still a human body. I can only take so much. This was just my limit, I guess."_

He pulls back, cupping her cheek with his thumb slowly stroking her skin. _"Are you sure?"_

She opens her eyes to look up at him, seeing a seriousness on his face that he rarely wears. _"Ratchet scanned me already?"_

He nods.

 _"And he didn't find anything wrong?"_

He shakes his head, more nervously this time.

" _Then I'm fine."_ She takes his hand, kissing each finger. _"I swear to you, Sideswipe. I am fine."_

He shutters at the promise, the bond making it that much more powerful since it's impossible to lie to each other with it connecting them. He knows her promise to be true. She _is_ okay, and if she wasn't, she would tell him so.

 _"I don't like all of this, Ari,"_ he mutters, drawing her even closer in his arms. _"Why does this feel like it's going to be one of the worst things we've ever faced?"_

 _"Because it is."_ She gives him a lingering kiss—both to give and receive comfort. _"There's a lot I have to tell you guys, none of it good news."_

"Seriously?" Tony gripes. "This isn't exactly the time to be making out here."

Ari snorts, giving Tony a playful glare. "That's rich, coming from you."

"I'm not the one spouting off Hydra greeting cards."

"Tony, _chill_ ," Will snaps from his seat right beside her, hands clenching convulsively on the table like he's restraining himself from pulling her out of Sideswipe's arms. "You okay, kiddo?"

Ari smiles, nudging at Sideswipe over the bond to let her go. He sighs dramatically but complies, unwrapping his arms from around her to allow her to stand. Will wastes no time, standing as well and pulling her in for a hug.

"You scared the crap out of me, you know that?" he says, breath ghosting along the top of her head.

"Sorry," she mutters against his chest, wishing she could stay in the safety of her dad's arms, but there is no safety. Not for any of them. "But I'm going to have to scare you a bit more."

He pulls back, brow creased with worry. "What do you mean?"

"What did the AllSpark show you?" Optimus asks, guessing what she's getting at right away.

She sighs heavily, feeling every ounce of the weight of this knowledge. She sits back down on Sideswipe's lap, urging Will to retake his seat as well.

"Well, that doesn't sound good," John chuckles lightly, his laugh dying off when he doesn't see her smile at his attempt at humor. "Wait, just how bad is this?"

"On a scale of one to ten, about a million."

"So what's going on, kid?" Tony asks flippantly, only the flinty steel in his eyes giving away how tense he is as he leans back in his chair. "Why did you freak out, say 'Hail Hydra', and then pass out on us? Because, I gotta tell you, that was unnerving as frag."

Sideswipe tightens his arms around her waist and she swallows thickly, knowing this is going to be painful to so many of them. "Hydra is still alive."

A beat of silence.

And then several protests ring out, Steve's the loudest of all, "You can't be serious! We defeated Hydra. Me, the Hollowing Commandoes. We put an end to it."

"I know, I know," she says, everyone quieting down around her. "I know what you were led to believe, but it didn't die off in World War II like everyone thought. They went into hiding. S.H.I.E.L.D. was just getting started at the time. Really, defeating Hydra was their first major mission, but you guys didn't actually win. Not even close."

Natasha's eyes narrow. "Explain."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. was just starting out, right? They were growing their numbers, taking anyone they thought would be useful. So members of Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ranks, slipping right in with the other new recruits."

"How could they not have known?" Thor asks, outrage barely constrained in the rolling timbre of his voice. Him and Loki may not be native to Earth but they've gotten the basic history lesson, not to mention the stories from Steve. They understand the gravity of the situation.

"This was decades ago," Ari shrugs helplessly. "Humans didn't exactly have the resources to do a thorough background check. Really, I'm sure it wasn't too hard at all."

"What about now?" Jane asks in disbelief. "How can no one know now?"

"Because now it's too late," Ari says softly. "Hydra played the long game, slithering their way slowly through the organization until they were able to infiltrate even the highest ranks. I'm not sure about the World Security Council themselves, but Galloway is Hydra. Of that, I am certain. With Hydra members that far up the ranks, they'd be able to slip in anyone else they please."

"And what does that mean for us?" Natasha asks, sounding more lost than Ari's ever heard her before. Sure, Natasha has her mask fully raised, but Ari knows her. She recognizes the slight waver barely breaking through. "How many missions were compromised because of them? How many missions did we only go on because Hydra wanted us to?"

Natasha tried so hard to wipe the red from her ledger. Sure, not all of S.H.I.E.L.D. is bad, and most of the missions she went on probably _were_ for the greater good. But how much red did Hydra _add_ to her ledger because of their deception?

"I don't know," Ari answers honestly. "But this ends. Now. I don't know what made Fury suspicious in the first place, but he's given us an opportunity to stop this before whatever long game Hydra is playing reaches its end."

"Do you think whatever's on the flash drive will help?" Lina asks, fiddling with the drive in her hands.

"It might. Or it'll just tell us what we already know now. But it can't hurt to take a look if we can just access it."

Jazz takes it from Lina, slipping it in his pocket. "I'll start running this tonight. Should have it cracked in no time. No way whatever A.I.'s protecting the thing is better than an Autobot processor."

"But what about Bucky?" Steve asks, voice short with impatience. It is what led Ari to these discoveries in the first place, but she's been skirting around it.

She takes a deep breath, like it will somehow help, but none of the other deep breaths she's taken tonight have made her feel any less ready for any of this. "Bucky fell from the mountain and survived. Hydra found him and then..." She shudders at the memories the AllSpark has left her with, images and the ghosts of feelings of what Bucky was forced to endure. "The bottom line? He was brainwashed. He's not really himself right now."

Tony snorts derisively. "Brainwashed? Really? You sure that's not just wishful thinking and he's completely turned to the Dark Side?"

Ari bristles, but Steve looks ready to pummel Tony. She intervenes before he can, "Yes, I'm sure. That's what I saw. He was brainwashed. His actions aren't his own and if he was in his right mind right now, he wouldn't be doing any of this. None of this, none of the things he's done, it's not his fault. It's Hydra's."

"And you're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'd show you if it'd help, but I honestly wouldn't wish those images on anyone. Just take my word for it, Tony," she pleads. "Bucky did not join Hydra willingly."

Tony crosses his arms in front of his chest, jaw set in a stubborn line. "But he tried to kill you."

"Clint tried to kill you when he was brainwashed with the Mind Stone," Ari reminds him gently. "As did Loki. And you've forgiven both of them. They're your friends."

"Oh, and while we're at it, what about our resident S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, huh? Clint, Natasha, Phil—how do we know none of them are Hydra?" He gets up from his chair abruptly, racking his hands through his hair until it sticks every which way. "Frag, how do I know _no one_ in this room is Hydra?"

Natasha spits something else in Russian and Ari quickly stands, rounding the table to stand in front of Tony. She steps close to the metal suitcase at his feet, just in case he plans something stupid with the Iron Man suit. "Tony, you can't go thinking like that. We need to trust each other if we're going to make it through this."

"We thought we could trust S.H.I.E.L.D. and that turns out to be false," Ironhide points out bitterly. "How do we know who to trust?"

"Because I just got a mental download of Hydra's history for the past seven decades," Ari soothes, tilting her head until she catches Tony's eyes. "If someone in this room was Hydra, the AllSpark would have shown me. We're all good here, including Clint and Phil."

"What about everyone else?" Ratchet asks, brow furrowed in concern. "Everyone else at S.H.I.E.L.D., even our own N.E.S.T. soldiers. How do we know who to trust among them?"

"Until this is done, we trust no one outside this room," Ari says firmly. "We have to assume everyone's the enemy, and Galloway is going to have all of S.H.I.E.L.D. convinced we're fugitives regardless."

Jane taps her pen anxiously against her notebook. "What about the ones just following orders?"

Tony sinks back into his chair with a thump. "Don't kill anyone unless they try to kill us. Except for Barnes, I guess." His face twists into an ugly look—helplessness and exhaustion not sitting right on him. "Though what are we going to do with him, huh? Mind Stone? Hit them really hard and it snaps them right out of it. We don't even know everything that was done to Bucky. How are we supposed to fix this?"

"I might be able to help," Loki says tentatively, staring at the table hard in thought before raising his eyes to Steve. "These humans, they would have used technology and chemicals to sway your friend's will so easily, affecting his brain chemistry, the way his mind makes connections, and especially his memories. It's not so different to how the Mind Stone works. If I use my magic to connect my mind to his, I might be able to unravel the damage Hydra has wrought."

Steve's brow furrows. "What, you mean like telepathy or something?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes, along with some healing magic to return his brain to the state it should be. That will probably be the longer process."

"It won't hurt him, will it?" Darcy asks, worrying her lip between her teeth. "I don't know what happened to him, but I get the feeling he's been in enough pain already."

"It might," Loki nods solemnly. "But if Bucky is the kind of man Steve has led us all to believe, he would be willing to go through a bit more pain to regain himself."

"It is up to you, Steve," Ratchet declares. "You are the closest thing Bucky has to family now. You're the only one here who can give consent on his behalf, but we _only_ act with your approval."

All eyes turn to him as they wait for Steve to reply, a frown of indecision marring his face. Bucky is like a brother to Steve, the only family he has now, too. How is he supposed to just sign him up for more pain after everything he's been through?

Then again, if Steve says no, he may not ever truly get his friend back. Maybe— _maybe_ —Bucky will be able to recover on his own now that he's away from Hydra and no longer enduring their torture.

But that won't exactly be a painless process, either.

Steve nods stiffly. "Do it."

* * *

Loki climbs into the back of Ratchet's alt mode, sitting down on the bench seat next to the gurney Bucky's laid out on. Ratchet climbs in after him on the other side of the bed, ready to help in whatever way might be needed.

Ratchet must have stripped Bucky of the upper half of his leather uniform earlier, leaving him in a black tank top so that an IV can feed into his right arm. Loki removes it carefully now, pushing up the long sleeves of his own shirt.

"This will not be pleasant," he warns, one last time. "You may not want to watch."

"Just do it," Steve chokes out, standing right at the back of the ambulance. He'd probably be in the back of it if there was room.

No one else goes back downstairs, either, determined to see this through. They just found out Bucky is the longest surviving prisoner of war in history. He deserves at least this respect from them.

"Very well." Loki places his hands on Bucky's face, fingertips resting against his temples. "Brace yourselves."

Nothing happens at first and everyone starts to relax, thinking that this will be painless after all.

Then Bucky screams, like a wounded animal caught in a bear trap, bucking and writhing in an attempt to get away from the source of his pain. But is that Loki, or whatever he's seeing in his own mind?

"Hold him down," Loki orders, closing his eyes in concentration. "If we lose the connection, it may cause even more damage to his brain."

Ratchet climbs on top of Bucky, pressing against his chest and keeping his arms pinned to his sides with his legs. Bucky continues to scream, starting to sound even more panicked.

Ari clenches Sideswipe's hand, wishing to look away but she can't. She may not know Bucky, not yet, but she wants to be there for him any way she can.

After five minutes, everything goes silent. Bucky's screams stop abruptly like a snapped rubber band and he goes slack, completely unmoving. Somehow, that's worse than the screams, because he looks so unmoving that it's like he's not breathing. He looks...dead.

"Bucky?" Steve panics, muscles bunched tight as he forces himself to stay still. "Bucky?"

"It is alright," Loki breaths out, slowly opening his eyes. "His mind was a mess, but I have managed to undo everything Hydra has done. His mind is his own again."

"What _was_ done to him?" Bruce asks. "Were you able to tell? Will there be any lasting effects?"

"Whoever did this was clever," Loki growls, removing his hands from Bucky's face and leaning back against the side of the alt mode. "They used electricity to damage his neural pathways, blocking him off from his own memories. They then used a dangerous combination of chemicals to keep him compliant. Under normal hypnosis, you can be influenced into doing things, but still have some ability to refuse. If you truly do not wish to kill someone, you can't be forced to do it. Your brain would fight it enough to break you out of the hypnosis. Hydra took that ability away from him. He had no choice but to do as he was told. Frankly, I'm surprised he survived this procedure at all."

"It's because he was given a version of the Super Soldier Serum," Ari answers, feeling obliged to fill in the blanks even though she doesn't want to. It would be better for them not to know what happened to Bucky. Then again, their imaginations might be even worse. And Bucky himself is probably going to want answers, answers he can only get from them. "When he was taken by Hydra the first time, they dosed him up with it. That's why he was able to survive the fall, and that's why he could endure what they did to him. But..."

She hesitates, despite knowing she can't really stop after she's started.

"But what?" Steve asks, eyes fearful yet imploring.

"It also allowed him to fight back, to an extent." She takes in a shuddered breath and Sideswipe moves behind her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. Seeking comfort, she leans back against him, gripping his forearms tightly. "His brain kept trying to heal what was done to him, with the help of the serum. He'd start to remember things, little things, and would resist his programming. That's probably why he helped Natasha at Red Room. But when he started to do that, they'd put him back in the chair again."

"The chair?" Natasha asks, cocking her head curiously.

Ari lowers her eyes, seeing that horrible chair in technicolor. "The chair they used to shock his brain. Like an electric chair but...worse."

Tony swears in a couple different languages, pacing away and swiping his hands furiously through his hair until it sticks up every which way even worse than before. Ari can understand the feeling.

How can anyone be okay with doing this to another human being?

"And I thought the Decepticons were bad," Sunstreaker mutters.

"Darkness is something that lives inside of everyone," Optimus says simply. "Either succumbing to it or fighting against it is something we all must choose. Unfortunately, some people choose to succumb. That is just the way life is."

"Well, it sucks," Darcy says just as simply, eyes glassy with anger or sadness or both. "I mean...how do you even bounce back from something like this? _Can_ he?"

"I don't know," Natasha answers softly, understanding more than anyone the amount of hardship a person is able to recover from. "All we can do is try to help any way we can."

"And we will help, Steve," Will says, clasping the captain on the shoulder. "We'll all be here if you need us. He doesn't have to face this alone. I know you're his friend and the only one he really knows but...we're all in his corner already anyway. In case you need us."

Everyone nods in agreement, even Tony despite how reluctant he was to accept Bucky in the beginning. Steve nods back gratefully, climbing up to sit at Bucky's bedside after Loki climbs down.

"So what now?" Evie asks, the energy in the room seeming to rapidly drain.

"Bucky needs to rest," Loki says, rolling his sleeves back down.

"We all need to rest," Ratchet concurs. "I think everyone can agree it has been a very long day."

"How secure is this place since Hydra is apparently still a thing?" Darcy wonders, glancing at the barn doors nervously. "They're not gonna be able to find us and kill us in our sleep or anything, right?"

"The only people who know this place's existence outside of those already here are Clint and Phil," Natasha states confidently. "And the alarm system is top of the line. It's safe to sleep. We should get as much sleep as we can because this is probably the safest we'll be for a while."

"Well, alright then," Jane mumbles, wiping at heavy eyes as she goes back downstairs to find a place to sleep, Thor following along behind her.

"Please, please, _please_ tell me there's a shower somewhere in this place?" Lina practically begs, picking at her sweaty and dirty shirt. "And maybe some change in clothes?"

"I got some stuff from one of the caches we hit before meeting up," Will offers.

Ari shakes her head. "Wearing the N.E.S.T. logo right now probably isn't a good idea. We're all going to need a change of clothes."

"I've got some stuff," Natasha says, leading the way downstairs again. "I keep spare clothes here, in varying sizes, just in case. There should be enough for everyone."

On the other side of the racks of weapons is a hallway Ari didn't notice before, lined with two doors on the left, two doors on the right, and ending at another door. Natasha goes into the second door on the left, revealing a bedroom. The furnishings are Spartan, minimal, with only a bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a dresser. She opens up the dresser, the top drawer filled with t-shirts in a couple different colors and sizes.

"It's not much, but pick whatever you like," Natasha offers, stepping back for them to choose.

Lina hobbles forward eagerly. "At this point, I don't care."

"I don't either," Ari agrees, picking out some stuff for herself. Natasha even has sneakers in a bottom drawer. Not quite the right size for her, but beggars can't be choosers.

It's weird not having the luxury of her own stuff right not, but at least she _has_ the option of a change of clothes. She didn't have that opportunity during Egypt.

"So, shower?" Evie asks, turning hopeful eyes on Natasha.

"You'll have to take turns," she warns, jerking her thumb at the door across the hall. "But there's shampoo and stuff in there."

"Awesome," Lina sighs, taking another hobbling step forward with a grimace. "As the only injured person here, I demand first dibs. Though I might need help."

"Will you help her?' Ari asks Evie. "I'll be there in a minute. I just need to talk to Optimus real quick."

"Yeah, 'course," Evie agrees easily, pulling Lina's arm over her shoulders to take some of her weight.

"Thanks."

Ari then looks at Optimus's holoform, tipping her head to signal him to follow her. He nods, the two of them walking up to the barn again to lean against the bumper of his semi side by side, seeking a bit of privacy.

"What is it, Ari?" Optimus prompts after a few minutes of silence.

She bunches the fabric of her skirt in her hands, unable to look at him. "I just…I wanted to apologize."

"What for?" he asks in bafflement.

She snorts humorlessly. "What for? For all of this. For people you trusted turning out to be traitors. Again. For making you work for fragging Nazis."

"Ari." He places a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him, but she keeps her eyes focused on his boots. "None of this is your fault."

"How is it not?" Tears sting at the backs of her eyes and she stubbornly pushes them away. "I should have known! With the AllSpark, I could have found out about Hydra ages ago. But no, I've been too focused on trying to find Unicron that I failed to pay attention to what's been going on right here in our own backyard. And I encouraged you to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.. I got you into all of this. Who knows how many people have ended up hurt because of what they—what _I_ —have asked you to do."

It's like Sentinel all over again. The AllSpark warned her he'd turned sides, and she ignored it. She's had ample opportunity to find out about Hydra. The knowledge hadn't been blocked off from her. She could have found out ages ago, back when they first got involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and before they started doing missions for them.

What did she get them into?

"Are any of the missions we went on for Hydra?" he asks, lacking any of the anger or accusation she feels she deserves. He should be yelling at her—raging that he's never going to trust another fragging human again. It's what she deserves. It's what they all deserve.

"Look at the knowledge the AllSpark has given you," he encourages instead, soft and gentle like a patient parent. "Has Hydra ever orchestrated any of our missions?"

She doesn't see the point of this but follows his direction anyway, closing her eyes to concentrate. She sifts through the S.H.I.E.L.D. missions that were actually Hydra design, looking for any handed to N.E.S.T. and the Autobots.

Except…there aren't any.

"They didn't give us any missions," she breathes, voice quavering in shock and relief. "They tried to—Galloway tried to any chance he got—but I…I turned them all down. The missions that sounded like assassinations. I didn't like the sound of them, didn't like the idea of you guys doing them, so I told him no."

Optimus lifts her head with a finger under her chin, giving her a soft smile. "You see? We did not fall to their deceptions thanks to you."

"But how did you know?"

He pulls her into a hug, holding her tightly. "Because I know you. I trust you, and I knew you would protect us."

She wraps her arms around his waist, burying her face in his leather jacket. "Thank you."

"And I know you will help us set this right."

She's quiet for a moment, afraid to voice her next thought but needing to know. "I'd understand, you know. If _you_ didn't want to help us. This isn't your fight."

"And the Decepticons aren't your fight, and yet you fight in our war. You are our friends. Family. We will not leave you to face this on your own."

She smiles, snuggling closer. "I love you, too."

There's still a hollowness in her chest, though. Of failure. Of disappointment. Disappointment in herself. A sense that she could have— _should have_ —done more.

If she had, maybe Nick would still be alive.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _So, everyone's world just turned upside down, Ari's feeling guilty, and Bucky's going to be okay. Eventually. Let's face it, even with magic, this isn't something you just bounce back from. It's going to be a long road for him._

 _And next chapter we get back on the road and back into a little action. I hope all the talking doesn't bore you but these are big, necessary reveals. The next chapter should be up June 22._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	5. Not a Damsel

_**Author's Note**_

 _I am so sorry I'm a day late! Yesterday was crazy busy for me (including a blood draw which is just ick) and I didn't have enough time to do this. It takes at least an hour to make the final edits, respond to reviews, and then get it posted. I just didn't have a solid hour of time to dedicate._

 _But it's here now, a bit longer than my average chapter even. And we got some action, a bit of Sides/Ari fluff, and Bucky waking up! That's worth the wait, right?_

 _So go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Not a Damsel**_

By the time they wake up the next morning, Jazz has a location for them. He cracked into the flash drive while they slept, breaking the encryption easily. There's not much on it, though, for something so heavily protected. Just a set of coordinates in Chicago. It doesn't even say what's there, but considering it's in the same city that was nearly destroyed a few years ago by Decepticons, it can't be anything good.

And if Hydra went to such lengths to hide it, then it must be important to them.

They hit the road at dawn. Steve stays with Bucky in the back of Ratchet's alt mode, who still hasn't woken up yet. Ratchet's monitoring his condition, which is stable, but his comatose state is worrying the med bot the longer it lasts.

What if what Loki did wasn't enough? What if this is something he just can't recover from?

Steve refuses to believe it, though, and stays vigilant at his friend's side during the entire ride, promising to let them know if there are any changes. No one's even sure what to do if/when he wakes up. Will he remember? What do they tell him if he doesn't? What if he wakes up still brainwashed?

But that's a bridge they'll cross when they come to it, so they keep going.

It's a long drive to Chicago from middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, taking at least eight hours. The Autobots could probably do it in half the time considering their love for speeding, and normally that wouldn't be a problem. Normally, they're official government operatives allowed to get away with stuff like speeding since what they're doing is so important.

Except now they're all wanted fugitives of the world. Officially.

John hears it on the radio, tuning everyone else in so they can hear the news coverage. Everyone, including the Avengers, is considered armed and extremely dangerous. The Autobots are colored in a horrible light, like they're the ones betraying mankind. There's a lot of speculation on that, especially since most of mankind has been on the Autobots' side with staying on Earth and protecting it. Ari fought long and hard to get the public on their side.

But now it's ruined, because most people will just go along with whatever officials tell them. They just believe as they're told so long as it's by someone with a badge or title, taking for granted that they're being told the truth.

It makes Ari wonder how far Hydra has spread. In order for them to do this, their reach has to be farther than just S.H.I.E.L.D., or even the U.S. government. They must have infiltrated every major government around the world. It sends them into a somber silence, feeling more betrayed and helpless than they ever have before.

Then, somewhere near the border between Indiana and Illinois, Ratchet announces over the comm link, ::He's awake. Bucky is awake.::

"How is he?" Ari asks nervously, wanting to be happy but not knowing what to expect.

::Disoriented, understandably. Steve is talking with him now, helping him put the pieces together. But he seems normal. At least, he's not trying to kill anyone. Whatever Loki did must have worked.::

::We should find a place to pull over,:: Loki says. ::He is sure to have questions and we could all use a break from traveling.::

::I second that,:: Trent adds, his stomach probably growling just as much as Ari's. They drove right through lunch, too afraid to stop for anything longer than a bathroom break. They ate the food they took from Natasha's safehouse, but Natasha and Clint didn't exactly stock the place with so many people in mind. And she _definitely_ didn't keep the metabolism of a super soldier and alien gods in mind. ::I'm _starving_.::

There's a dense wooded area off to their right and Optimus leads them down the next side road they find, winding through the trees until they come across something resembling a dirt road. Or, at least, it used to be some kind of road. It looks like no one has traveled this way in quite some time, the path almost completely reclaimed by the forest. They drive down it a while, trying to become as truly lost as possible so no one can stumble upon them.

After a good fifteen minutes with no sign of houses or life of any kind outside woodland animals, Optimus stops and transforms, making a path through the woods with his sword for them to drive down. He stops after a hundred feet, thick foliage all around them to obscure them from sight with a clear area large enough for all of them.

And then he returns to his alt mode. Because Bucky is probably struggling enough as it is. They're not even sure Hydra told him about Cybertronians when the Autobots revealed themselves to the world.

Everyone piles out of the vehicles and stretch, holoforms activating among them as they all turn towards the back of Ratchet's alt mode.

Steve slowly pushes open the door, climbing down with a tired smile, but there's a lightness to him that Ari's never seen before. With his feet on the ground, he turns and holds out a hand, helping Bucky clamber out of the alt mode.

Bucky looks _tired_. And worn and devastated and more than a bit broken. _Overwhelmed_. But there are feelings in his eyes—real emotions burning inside of him instead of the cold blankness of before.

He's back. He's free.

Dark circles hang under blue eyes that widen in trepidation, his flesh hand clinging to Steve's forearm. "Who are all these people?" he asks, voice gravely from disuse.

"They're friends, Buck," Steve reassures, gently removing Bucky's vice-like grip and clasping him on the shoulder. "No one here's gonna hurt you."

He jerks his head in a nod, showing just how much he trusts his best friend by not running away from all of these strangers.

He's been surrounded by strangers for so long. Now, Steve's the only one he actually knows.

"Hello, Sergeant Barnes," Ratchet says, stepping closer while still allowing Bucky plenty of personal space. He keeps a smile on his face, projecting as much calmness as he can. "My name is Ratchet. I'm a doctor."

Bucky backs up a step at that, eyes narrowing suspiciously before darting back to Steve. Steve gives him an encouraging nod and Bucky forces himself to relax, shoulders visibly drooping. "What kinda name's Ratchet?" he asks gruffly.

"Uh...," Ratchet flounders for a moment, looking to Optimus for guidance.

"That may be a long story," Optimus answers for him, stepping up to the mech's rescue. "It depends on how much you remember. We will answer all the questions you have, as much as we can, but first we want to make sure you are alright."

Bucky grimaces. "I don't think 'not alright' quite covers it."

"Are you in any pain?" Ratchet clarifies.

"I'm fine." His metal arms whirrs softly as his fingers open and close. He looks down at his hand, jaw clenching, and his fingers stop. "Physically, I'm fine."

"Good. Now, what do you remember?"

"Most of it. I think. It feels kinda weird." He runs his flesh hand along his face, moving it up through his scraggly hair. "Like it's playing through my head like a movie. Like it didn't really happen to me."

"That would be my doing," Loki answers.

Bucky's eyes narrow at him in consideration, like he's trying to remember a dream. "I know your voice."

Loki nods, holding out a hand to him. "I am Loki, of Asgard. Steve gave me permission to use my magic to enter your mind and undo the damage that Hydra wrought. As I did, I put up a barrier between you and the memories of your time with them. You will remember as if you witnessed those things happening to someone else until you are able to cope with them. Then the barrier will disintegrate and you will remember as you should."

Bucky looks at Loki's hand incredulously before taking it for a shake. "Magic? Seriously?"

"Please tell me you know about aliens being out of the closet now," Darcy practically groans, "or else this is going to take a lot longer."

Bucky's eyes sparkle in appreciation as they meander across Darcy's curves, his brazenness causing her to blush. "I don't know what aliens were doing in a closet, doll, but I wouldn't mind being in one with you for a while."

He blinks in surprise at himself, that those words came out of his mouth. But, if the history books are anywhere close to the truth, that's just like something Bucky Barnes would say. The old Bucky, before the war.

Steve barks out a laugh, equal parts humor and relief. "It's good to have you back, yah jerk."

Bucky smirks, a spark of happiness breaking through the cracks. "It's good to see you, too, punk."

Darcy coughs awkwardly, the redness of her face spreading down her neck. "Right. Okay. So I'm gonna go get us some food. Any requests?"

"Whoa, hold on a minute," Will says, catching her lightly by the arm before she can go stalking off towards an alt mode. "No one is going anywhere."

She rolls her eyes. "We need food. We can't just keep going like this without heading into a town for supplies. What we've got isn't nearly enough. Not for this many people and their insane appetites."

"But, Darcy," Jane says placatingly, "we're all being hunted right now. As soon as we head into town, someone is bound to recognize us."

"You mean, recognize _you_." Darcy's mouth twists up in a semblance of a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Unlike the rest of you, I wasn't listed as a wanted fugitive."

Ari runs the broadcast back through her head and, sure enough, there was no mention of a Darcy Lewis. How had they missed that?

Jane's brow furrows, voice small like a child who's just been told Santa Clause isn't real, "Well, why would they do that?"

"It's fine," Darcy chuckle, the sound as plastic as her smile. "They probably figured I wasn't important enough for them to worry about, and they're right. I'm just a college intern. What am I going to do, stab at them with my mechanical pencil and unfinished degree?"

"But you are a fine warrior," Thor boasts proudly. "You felled me when we first met and I am proud to call you my lightning sister."

"Sorry, big guy, but I highly doubt they're intimidated by my taser, even if it did take down a Norse god." She slides a hair tie off from around her wrist, using it to pull her hair up from its usually down position. "But, seriously, it's fine. It means I can go out in public without worrying about cameras or cops or people recognizing me. I can get us food, maybe some more clothes, and be back in a few hours."

"You still shouldn't go by yourself," Steve says with a frown. "Hydra could still change their minds if they get tired of trying to find us."

"Jazz will go with me, won't you, Jazz?" She tosses her brightest smile at Jazz's holoform who shakes his head with a laugh.

"'Course I will, Darce," he replies, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "You ain't getting snatched by no Hydra thugs."

Will shakes his head. "You're too well known, too. S.H.I.E.L.D. has pictures of what all of your holoforms look like."

Jazz slumps. "Oh. Yeah."

Really, if this goes on for too much longer, all of the Autobots will have to get different alt modes as well. S.H.I.E.L.D. knows what all of them look like, too. Her chest tightens, already mourning Sideswipe's sleek, silver Stingray, but that's a problem for later. Finding appropriate alt modes to fit everybody is a pain in the aft they don't have time to deal with right now.

"I'll go with her," Ari offers.

Will crosses his arms in front of his chest, the stern father coming out. "And how is that any better?"

"Just wait, just wait," she insists, holding out a hand to Natasha. "Do you have one of those mask thingies you like to use on missions?"

"You mean a photostatic veil?" Natasha asks in amusement, digging around in the pocket of her leather jacket.

"Yeah, that."

"Here." She tosses it and Ari catches the small case in her hands, opening it up.

Inside rests a thin, see-through sheet that almost looks like plastic wrap but is actually thinner and softer to the touch. Ari presses it to her face, rubbing her fingers along it so that it sticks snuggly to the surface of her skin. There's a slight tingling sensation as it turns on, the holographic cells in the veil flickering to life to project a different face onto her head.

Natasha holds up a compact mirror for Ari to see, revealing a woman in her early thirties with the same skin tone but larger eyes, fuller lips, and a larger nose. Ari tilts her head this way and that, watching as the veil perfectly projects the contours of a different face, looking so real no one will be able to tell she's wearing thousands of nano-sized screens all over her face.

It's a little freaky, seeing someone else's face in the mirror. Especially the brown eyes, so different than Ari's light blue. But she looks completely different and that's the point.

Natasha hums in approval, putting the compact away. "That'll do nicely. And you look similar enough now, with the brown hair and eyes, that you and Darcy could easily pass off as cousins or even sisters if you have to."

"Perfect," Ari replies, her voice coming out completely foreign to her ears. A different person's voice. "Oh, well, that's weird."

Sideswipe grabs her hand, squeezing to reassure himself that she's still her. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"It's still too risky," Bucky grumbles, rubbing at his forehead. Ari narrows her eyes, wondering if he's really as fine as he said. "Someone with more experience in espionage should go."

"My red hair stands out too much for me to go," Natasha says, "and a wig wasn't as easy to pack as the veil. I've trained Ari myself. She can do this."

"I wasn't talking about you."

"What, you mean you?" Ari asks with a skeptical brow, knowing the same expression is being projected on the veil.

He straightens his shoulders defiantly but the small wince he fails to hid ruins the look. "Yeah, maybe."

"Dude, you're in no condition to be going anywhere," Darcy admonishes.

"I'm fine," he replies at the same time Steve says, "He's fine."

Bucky is obviously lying, so Ari isn't sure if it's just wishful thinking on Steve's part or what.

"You've got an intense headache," Loki cuts in, arching a brow at him like he's just daring Bucky to deny it.

"Maybe," Bucky grumbles, not looking at anyone.

"Is he okay?" Steve asks, worried now. Bucky lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Don't give me that, Buck. You'd be doing the same thing if it were me. Already did lots of times when I was sick as a kid."

"Sergeant Barnes will be fine," Loki reassures. "It's simply aftereffects from what was done to him. I undid the worst of it, but he's still got a lot of healing to do."

Bucky growls in frustration. "How much?"

"I can help you with it, if you'll let me." Loki holds out his hands, palms up, like a supplicant. "But I will need to go into your mind again to do it."

Bucky hesitates, probably not liking the idea of someone going into his head now that he's got his own mind back again, so Steve asks for him, "You'll be able to fix him? So he can fight again?"

Loki nods confidently. "I can."

Darcy tenses, shifting on her feet restlessly. "What if he doesn't want to fight?"

Steve blanches. "What are you talking about?"

"He's been freaking tortured for the past several decades. Don't you think he's fought enough? What if he wants to quit?"

"You don't know Buck like I do. He's always fought with me." He turns to his best friend, waiting for him to back him up just like he probably always has.

Except Bucky doesn't answer right away. He glances at Darcy wistfully, so fast you'd almost miss it unless you were looking for it. Steve obviously doesn't see it, but Ari and Darcy do.

He's gone through so much already and he's tired.

"Right, Bucky?" Steve prompts, eyes wide and earnest and hopeful. He probably doesn't know how effective those big blue eyes of his are, or maybe he does, because they are almost impossible to say no to.

Bucky certainly can't, even after knowing Steve for so long. His shoulders droop a little, almost like in defeat, and he covers it up with a smirk. "Yeah. 'Course I'll fight."

"See?" Steve says brightly. "Bucky'll be fine. After a little healing from Loki, he'll be back to his old self and ready to go."

Darcy's mouth twists into an ugly grimace. Ari presses her lips together to keep from doing the same. They're both thinking it.

Bucky is never going to be the same again. Not after what happened to him.

"There's no shame in staying back with the rest of us civvies," is all Darcy says, keeping her eyes on Bucky. "Just, you know, remember that. In case you change your mind."

He gives a jerky nod. "Yeah. Sure." He then jabs his thumb at Ari. "She still shouldn't be the one to go."

Ari grinds her teeth together in an effort not to snap, any sympathy she was feeling for him getting shoved to the backburner. She's not some little girl with no experience. Not like she was during Mission City. She can fight just as good as any of them. She is a soldier. A fighter. He's making assumptions that are just plain untrue.

She may have failed a lot lately, but this is something she can do.

"I can take care of myself. Like Natasha said, I'm trained."

"Doesn't matter how much training you have. I know the way Hydra thinks. They'll get the drop on you."

"I held my own against you, didn't I?" Ari challenges, reminding him of their fight before he was knocked out.

His brow furrows in confusion and Ari wonders if it's not just a headache bothering him, but his memories as well. How many blank spots does he have? How much of recent history does he even know? Loki helped, but it's a lot he has to work through.

He shakes her question away. "Doesn't matter how many people you've fought before. A full Hydra team is going to be on your tail."

"They can't be any worse than a team of Decepticons."

He pulls up short at that. "What's a Decepticon?"

Yeah, that's what she was afraid of. Did Hydra even see it as worth it to keep him up to date on all the alien things going on with the world? Does he just not remember being told, or was he never told in the first place?

She sighs deeply, having almost forgotten what it was like to explain this before everyone knew the truth. "How much do you know about aliens?"

"I know they're aliens," he nods towards Loki and Thor. "I was briefed on all of the Avengers."

"So they told you about Asgardians but not Cybertronians?" That's a bit insulting for some reason.

"…Yes?" he says, more question than answer and looking completely lost.

"Ooo! Ooo!" Tony raises his hand excitedly, eyes darting to Ironhide with glee. "Can Ironhide do the introductions? Do the thing with the cannon!"

A grin spreads across Ironhide's face but Ari cuts him off, "No! We need to ease him into all of this, not traumatize him."

She remembers when Ironhide mock threatened her with his cannon when they first met. It's not so funny to be on the receiving end of that.

Natasha slaps them both on the back of the head, eliciting an echoing, "Ow!"

"Thanks, Nat," Ari smiles. "Will you make sure they take care of this gently? We should get going."

"Of course, _kotyonok_." Her eyes sparkle with laughter. "I will watch the children while you are away."

There's more than one indignant "Hey!" at that.

"This still isn't a good idea," Bucky grumbles, confused but not willing to back down from their original argument.

"We'll be fine," Ari insists, trying to pour comfort into her smile. Even though her smile isn't really hers. "They'll make you understand just what we've faced before, and then maybe you'll see how capable we all really are."

Or is this more to prove how capable she is? The thought creeps up on her, sending a cold shiver down her spine that she struggles to ignore.

"Alright, let's hit it!" Darcy jumps in, grabbing Ari by the arm and spinning her towards Sideswipe's alt mode before anyone can stop them. Ari climbs behind the wheel, Darcy taking the passenger seat, and Sideswipe takes off, heading back the way they came.

Ari tilts the rear-view mirror down, taking a good look at herself again. The only thing familiar is her hair and her ears. Her face is different, her voice is different. The clothes she's wearing aren't even hers, just a purple t-shirt a size too big and a pair of baggy jeans.

It all makes her feel not like herself right now.

"Hey," Darcy says, pulling her out of her musings. "Do you think Bucky'll be okay?"

"I hope so," Ari sighs. "But you're right. I get the feeling we're pushing him to do more than he's capable of right now. To do more than he _wants_ to do right now."

Darcy nods solemnly. "Yeah. I mean, he just got himself back, but he's still not really making decisions for himself. Just going along with what he thinks everyone wants and expects from him."

"Well, we'll just have to make sure he knows he can still say no if he wants to. He doesn't have to do everything he's told anymore."

"Not even for Steve," Darcy huffs, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. "I get they're best friends and all, but Steve is being a bit pushy for someone who wants to help his friend."

"He just wants to see Bucky get back to normal. He misses his best friend."

"And if his best friend isn't there anymore?" Darcy arches a brow. "It may not have been his fault, but Bucky went through a lot of slag that still affected him. He might find that he's changed now, and that's not a bad thing."

Ari places her elbow against Sideswipe's door, leaning her head against her hand with a tired sigh. She feels for Steve—really, she does—but Bucky seems just this side of being a soldier who doesn't want to go to war. She doesn't want to force that on him. Not after everything he's been through. "I'm not sure what's going to happen. But we'll be there for them both. Whatever the fallout is."

* * *

The nearest city is only a couple miles away from where they're hiding out. The big, bustling kind where no one pays attention to anyone else. They find a supermarket, grabbing a shopping cart at the front of the store and weaving down the aisles one by one.

It's tempting to split up and rush through everything but they force themselves to take their time. To not draw attention to themselves and stick together.

Ari wishes she had the feel of Sideswipe's holoform at her back, comforting with the knowledge he's watching her back. But Will's right, the holoforms are just as recognizable as her face right now and they can't risk it. But his alt mode is right outside in the parking lot, keeping an eye on the front of the store and ready to pick them up when they're done.

Or drive right through the storefront.

Darcy seems unaffected, pushing the cart with a bounce in her step and humming a tune. Like it's just any other day.

Ari wishes she had that kind of confidence. Right now, it feels like she's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The feeling only grows as they move through the store, picking up anything they can think up. They grab hot dogs and skewers for today, something to fill them up for a while, and canned food for later that'll last them for two weeks. Hopefully they can end all this in just a day or two but optimism doesn't fill empty stomachs.

They're just starting to look through clothes for the others when that feeling intensifies at the back of her head. That shoe, sitting right on the table ledge. Just about to fall.

It suddenly dawns on her what it is. Eyes, trained right at her.

" _You alright, Ari?"_ Sideswipe asks, feeling her spike of anxiety.

" _I think someone's watching me,"_ she says, continuing to act casual while surreptitiously looking around.

He tries to remain calm but his fear still trickles down to her, made worse because he's not right with her when they both want him to be. _"Can you tell who?"_

She glances around, acting like she's looking for something on the racks of clothes around her while trying to take a look at the people as well. All she can see are a mom looking through dresses while rocking a baby stroller back and forth, the infant munching on cereal in his seat, and a man with dark hair trimmed close to his head looking through shirts.

He's muscular with a strong build that could definitely be military, but what really sells it for her—besides the fact that he's not actually looking at any of the clothes he's leafing through—is the bulge under his jacket that she's pretty sure is a gun.

And if there's one, there's bound to be more.

Ari leans in close to Darcy, slinging an arm across her shoulders in a show of friendliness. "We're leaving," she whispers in her ear, barely moving her lips.

Darcy nods without a word, still humming a tune like nothing's wrong. They leave the clothes racks behind, pushing their cart to the front of the store.

 _"Sides, we've got company. Get ready for a quick exit."_

 _"What about the food?"_

 _"We're in line to pay for it right now,"_ she says, pulling out her wad of cash from one of the supply caches so she's ready when they reach the register. The guy from earlier followed them in line a few people back, a random shirt in his hand. _"I don't think they've realized they've been made yet and they won't want to make a scene here, not if they can help it. They're probably waiting to snatch us in the parking lot."_

Sideswipe growls. _"Not if I can help it."_

Once they've paid, Ari and Darcy grab three bags each, making a beeline for the front door. The automatic doors slide open and Sideswipe sits right outside, waiting for them with the trunk popped open already.

The man follows close behind them, without having made a purchase.

Ari shoves her bags into Darcy's hands and then spins on her heels, activating her blades to slide one poised under the man's chin.

His Adam's-apple bobs, hand frozen beneath his jacket where she can now clearly see a gun strapped to his belt.

She smiles darkly, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

People scream around them as they panic, running away. Except for a few. A few men push forward against the flow of people to stalk closer, all six of them with deadly focus.

The guy at the end of her blade grins like a hungry shark. "Oh, but I think I will, sweetheart."

Anger boils under her skin, thick and hot. But it's not hers.

It distracts her for a moment, enough for the guy's arm to come up and shove her blade away. She stumbles, barely regaining her footing in time to block the fist aiming for her gut.

Natasha would be horrified. She can do better than this.

Gritting her teeth, she fights back, kicking out at his side which he sidesteps easily, retaliating with a kick of his own. She catches his ankle, spinning on her heel and using the momentum to toss him to the sidewalk at the feet of his pals.

"Go, Darcy," Ari orders, not needing to look over her shoulder at the girl to know Darcy stands frozen watching them, bags dangling uselessly from her hands. "Get the stuff put away. I've got this."

The guy wipes the back of his fist against his chin, smirking as he gets to his feet again. "That's what you think."

"Well, come on then, sweetheart," Ari retorts, throwing the word back at him. She hears crinkling plastic behind her as Darcy gets moving. "Hit me with your best shot."

His next punch is sloppy as he growls in anger, making it easy to block and shove him back again. Another guy comes up to her right, angling to make a grab at Darcy, and Ari moves quickly with a sharp kick, jab, roundhouse that sends him to his aft with a groan.

They're not getting past her.

The first guy uses her distraction to get in a lucky hit to her ribs, making her stumble but not cry out. She's felt worse than that from Ron. Like maybe he's holding back? It'll be his mistake, because even though it didn't hurt that much, it was enough to make Sideswipe's engine _roar_.

His holoform blinks on next to her, his entire frame drawn taunt like a bow string pulled back, about to fire an arrow into the heart of the man who hit her. Absolute fury turns his eyes dark blue and the shear amount of protectiveness and possessiveness coming across the bond makes Ari's knees go weak.

The whole thing is oddly sexy.

The idiot who hit her either doesn't notice the danger or doesn't care, because he takes another swing at Ari despite Sideswipe standing right next to her. Sideswipe steps in his way, catching the man's fist effortlessly in his hand and squeezing until there's a sickening _crack_.

A scream of pain tears out of the man's clenched teeth as he bends his knees, trying to get relief but Sideswipe doesn't give it to him. Instead, he kicks the man squarely in the chest hard enough to knock the hair from his lungs and probably fracture his sternum.

The man goes flying backwards from the hit, landing on the ground without getting back up.

The other Hydra agents blink in surprise but recover quickly, spreading out to try to enclose them against Sideswipe's alt mode. Sideswipe moves to stand in front of her protectively, pulling her up short.

That may have been hot bus she does not need to be protected, fraggit.

She coughs pointedly until Sideswipe glances at her over his shoulder. Arching a brow at him, she says, _"You are not pulling this crap on me. I know you know better."_

He grimaces. _"But,"_ she coughs again and he lets out a short sigh, _"Fine. Together?"_

She smiles brightly. _"Much better."_

She steps up next to him this time, facing the remaining agents in the kind of solidarity that only sparkmates can exude. This is how it's supposed to be. Both of them together, watching each other's backs.

The sidelines are no place for her.

They work together in smooth precision, leaving the agents either unconscious or in too much pain to get back up. Still, Sideswipe won't untense, though. His shoulders rise and fall as he breathes heavily, even though breathing isn't even necessary for his holoform. Ari steps up behind him, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Sideswipe..."

He rounds on her, that dark fury still brimming in his eyes but it doesn't scare her. He never scares her, because even though he just showed such violence, it's never directed at her.

He raises a shaking hand to gently brush along her side, the side that got hit, like he's checking for anything broken. She lets him lift up her shirt, making sure there's no bruising, but of course there isn't. She heals so fast now because of the AllSpark that, even if she had been bruised, it would be long since faded by now.

 _"I'm fine, Sideswipe,"_ she tells him over the bond, knowing he's not going to hear her any other way right now. _"I'm okay. Seriously, I could have taken care of them myself with one hand tied behind my back. What's with the overreaction?"_

He growls low in his throat, slipping the photostatic veil off her face so he can surge forward to claim her mouth with his. The kiss is rough and wild, leaving Ari with no choice but to hang onto his shoulders as his arms form bands around her waist.

She's not entirely sure what brought this on—though she has an idea—but she still thoroughly enjoys the moment, giving as good as she gets as her tongue tangles with his.

His presence surges around her just as hard, enveloping her in an overwhelming feeling of _mine_. The combination is heady and exhilarating, leaving her whimpering when he finally pulls back.

She pants against his mouth, still only inches from hers, and asks, "He shouldn't have called me sweetheart, huh?"

"No," he rumbles, voice lower than she's ever heard it before. "He shouldn't have."

"Thought so." His jealous fits aren't something she's unaware of, they happened a lot before she and Trent became friends, but they usually aren't this bad. So bad that he feels the need to reclaim her. Hitting her was the breaking point, but what really set him off was the guy's close imitation of sweetspark, Sideswipe's pet name for her.

She'll have to watch out for that. And see if she can bring this side of him out again because that...that was fun.

Darcy sticks her head out of the window of Sideswipe's alt mode. "Guys, as hot as that was—because, seriously, you two are hot together—we really need to get out of here."

That's when they notice the sirens building in the distance and remember just where they are. Ari presses one last, lingering kiss to Sideswipe's lips, sending him another bubble of reassurance and love. When they pull back this time, the darkness has faded from his eyes. "Come on," she whispers breathlessly, "let's get out of here."

He nods, his holoform blinking out and finally releasing her. She sways for a moment, sad for the loss of his touch, and then pulls herself together to climb behind the wheel of his alt mode. He tears it out of the parking lot, heading for the highway and starting a winding trail that will help them lose any tails they may have before heading back to rejoin the others.

Guilt starts to trickle down the bond, Sideswipe asking hesitantly, _"I…I'm sorry I acted that way. I was out of line. I know you can take care of yourself."_

" _It's alright,"_ she reassures him, wishing she could curl up on his holoform's lap but Darcy's here. _"You didn't force me to sit it out. You realized your mistake and let me fight beside you. Besides, you more than made up for your momentary lapse in sanity."_

" _Oh, yeah? How's that?"_

She rolls her eyes at him. _"_ S _ides, if you're not feeling just how totally okay I was with what came after, then you're not paying very much attention to our bond right now. You are definitely allowed to get all protective and mine again."_

" _So long as I don't treat you like a damsel?"_ he teases.

" _So long as you don't treat me like a damsel."_

He chuckles, a different kind of darkness in his voice, one that makes her toes curl pleasantly in her boots. _"I'll keep that in mind."_

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Yay, Bucky's awake! Still not doing great cause healing takes time, even with magic involved, but he's getting there. He won't ever be the same though, which is something I think Steve would really struggle with. Even in the MCU, he expects Bucky to fight at his side without ever asking if he still wants to. T'Challa does it, too, handing him that arm in Infinity Wars when Bucky was perfectly content living a simple life. I know it was the end of the world and all but...you could tell it hurt him a little to get asked to do that again._

 _But Bucky the ladies man is still in there. ;)_

 _And then Ari struggles to prove herself again, both to others and to herself. Sideswipe can get all protective as much as he wants (and, let's face it, we want him to, too) but Ari can still take care of herself. She's still capable. And she needs to see that for herself after all her failures._

 _The next chapter will be up on July 6th, and I'll try to actually do it on the day this time. We'll get a bit of action, a bit of fluff, and a bit of soul searching. And a lot of questions._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	6. More Questions Than Answers

_**Author's Note**_

 _So, another chapter. It was really hard to break things up in this area. Last chapter, this chapter, and next chapter were originally one long...thing. Really, really long. So I had to cut it up into pieces, which was seriously difficult. But I think it turned out okay._

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **More Questions Than Answers**_

"So how did they find us?" Darcy asks, breaking them out of the little bubble Ari and Sideswipe found themselves in. "We couldn't have really been that easy to find, right?"

"I don't know," Ari admits, forcing herself to focus on the problem at hand. "And it was really weird. It kind of felt like that guy was holding back. If they knew who I was, I'd be tempted to say they were trying to take me in alive instead of trying to kill me like Bucky did."

"But they shouldn't have known who you were because of the veil thingy. I mean, seriously. They don't care about me. They shouldn't have known who you were. Why'd they go after us at all?"

"Don't know. That one guy did try to make a grab for you. Maybe they wanted to use us to find the others? They still probably know that you intern for Jane, and Jane they'd care about because of her connection to Thor, I'd imagine. Jane, who is now in the wind along with all the Avengers. It's not a stretch for them to figure out she's with them. They could have maybe wanted to use you to get to her, and Jane would then lead them to the others."

Darcy grimaces, crossing her arms with a huff. "So much for them not caring about me, then. But how'd they even find us all the way out here?"

"I got the impression from the AllSpark that Hydra is kind of all over the place. This could have just been the local chapter."

"Either way, I've let the others know what happened," Sideswipe interrupts, sounding much more like himself. "They're moving out from our current camp and will meet up with us on the road. We'll keep moving until nightfall to make sure we've lost Hydra."

Loud honking makes Ari turn in her seat, curiously looking out the rear window. A car swerves out of the way of a black SUV barreling through traffic. Another car honks its horn as the SUV almost runs it over, speeding right towards them.

"Uh, I don't think we've lost them," Darcy says, voice rising in panic. Another SUV charges around a semi, soon followed by a third.

"How the frag did they find us?" Ari growls in frustration, clenching the seat beneath her as Sideswipe speeds up.

Cars start honking at them now as Sideswipe weaves in and out of traffic like a practiced street racer. "I don't know, but I don't like it. They couldn't have all been at the store. There's too many of them."

They narrowly avoid collisions left and right, Darcy squeaking in fear each time until she closes her eyes. "Maybe they're backup for those other guys and they just found us by coincidence?"

"I don't think so," Ari, mutters, showing none of the fear that's making Darcy cringe. She trusts Sideswipe to get them out of this in one piece. He's the best driver she's ever known, but the SUVs are keeping up just as well. It leaves an uneasy pit in her stomach. "It's too much coincidence. There's got to be something else."

"Like what?"

"Not sure." A tracker is the most likely reason but she can't imagine a time when they could have planted one on any of them. Unless it was while they were fighting. They'll need to stop to do a search. "Get out of the city, Sideswipe. You're faster than them. If we can get out to the open road then we can at least get a bit of distance to figure out how they're following us."

"That's where I'm headed," he confirms, already two steps ahead of her. "We should make it out to the main highway in five minutes."

It's a tense five minutes, swerving back and forth, taking wild turns that shove her against the door, and breaking at the last second to avoid collision. There's police sirens at one point but Sideswipe quickly loses them. Just not Hydra. Even when they lose sight of the SUVs, they reappear in the rearview mirror not long after.

It only heightens Ari's suspicions of a tracker and she starts patting down her clothes, trying to find something. It must be small for her not to have noticed.

"What are you doing?" Darcy asks, her shoulders slowly dropping down from around her ears once they get to the highway and out of town. Traffic is a lot more spread out here, allowing for Sideswipe to zigzag around cars with ease.

"Looking for a tracker of some kind," she answers, finding nothing on her shoulders and arms. "It's the only explanation I can think of. They must have slipped something on us."

Darcy starts patting down herself as well. "What, like sometime in the store, before we realized they were there?"

"Could be. Do you remember anyone getting near us?"

"I don't think so, no. I mean, we were being really careful and it's not like it was that crowded in there."

Ari finishes her search, finding nothing. "We'll have to have Ratchet do a scan of us once we meet back up with everyone else. He'll be able to find any wayward trackers, no matter how small."

"I don't see them behind us anymore," Sideswipe says, though he still doesn't slow down. "Though if there is a tracker, then we'll probably have only a couple minutes once we stop."

"That should be all we'll need. How far away are the others?"

A loud horn is her answer as Optimus comes into view down the road, leading their caravan of fugitives. Once they pass, they fishtail on the road, turning to follow behind Sideswipe.

::Is everyone alright?:: he asks over the comms.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ari reassures, assuming it's a party line with everyone listening. "You guys okay? Have you noticed anyone following you?"

::No, no one. Do you still have a tail?::

"We think so. Can't see them now but they found us way too easily. They must have gotten a tracker on one of us somehow."

::Hold your speed, Sideswipe,:: Ratchet says, pulling up alongside them. A red light shines out from the side of his alt mode, running over Sideswipe to scan all three of them. He hums in confusion. ::I didn't find anything unusual. Just Ari's normal trackers and S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have access to our frequencies.::

::Wait, I think I know what it is!:: Will shouts suddenly. ::Pull over!::

When they come up to an empty field on the right Sideswipe skids to a halt in the grass, the others pulling over haphazardly around them. Ari gets out, Will jumping out of Ironhide's alt mode to run right for her.

"What is it?" she asks. "Do you think it's some sort of advanced Hydra tech?"

"No." He kneels down in front of her, pushing up her pant leg and yanking her anklet off her, the one she was given after Anti-Alien took her.

"Hey!" She watches helplessly as he tosses the anklet to the ground, crushing the blue jewel with his boot. "What gives? That's one of the trackers Ratchet made. No way Hydra's tracking that."

He shakes his head. "I think they have been. Ratchet made that anklet so that both us _and_ S.H.I.E.L.D. could track you. Phil wanted the backup of being able to find you himself, just in case. And since S.H.I.E.L.D. is basically Hydra at this point, they'll have access to the tracker, too."

Dread pools in her stomach, bubbling with a mixture of denial. "Do you think Phil did that on purpose? For Hydra?"

"No," Natasha says vehemently, glaring down at the remains of the anklet. "That had been my idea. Phil just agreed. We thought it would be a good idea after what happened with Anti-Alien."

Ari bites her lip with a nod, hoping she's right. Please, Primus, let her be right.

She's not sure she could handle a betrayal like that. Not again.

"Anyway, we should be safe now," Will says softly, wrapping an arm around Ari's shoulders for a comforting hug. "Let's get going. It'll be dark soon and we need to get as much distance as possible between us and Hydra before stopping for the night."

* * *

They drive for a long time, well past dark, just to be sure no one is following them. But no matter how many times Ari turns in her seat to look behind them, no more black SUVs pop up.

Will was right. It was her anklet. A tracker that was supposed to help keep her safe. Has Hydra used it before to keep track of her? To spy on her? How often have they been watching her without her knowing it?

Did they find out anything she doesn't want them to? They may know about her being the AllSpark now—and that's definitely bad—but do they know about her marriage to Sideswipe? Do they know that she's his sparkmate?

Will they use that as leverage to get her somehow?

Two hours later and several towns over, they find an abandoned building, crumbling at the edge of a sprawling city. There's no one out here except for the homeless and drug addicts so they stop for the night, feeling as safe as they can be.

It's definitely not the Ritz but at least there aren't many eyes out here.

It looks like it used to be some kind of factory, with heavy machinery rusting in corners and metal catwalks threatening to fall on their heads. It's large enough for the Autobots to all park inside, even for them to transform if they want, but most of them stay in their alt modes to allow everyone else room. Will gets a couple of fires started in some old barrels while Darcy passes out hot dogs and skewers, getting their makeshift dinner started and filling the room with a bit of light.

Ari huddles up to a fire next to Lina, slowly cooking her hot dog and trying to get warm herself. A slight chill sweeps through the room with the deepening night, making her wish for a jacket. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse than this or else it's going to be miserable trying to fall asleep.

"So how are you holding up?" she asks her friend, trying to stave off the cold with distraction and her free hand rubbing against her arm. The friction does little to help but it's better than nothing.

"Oh, you know," Lina shrugs a shoulder, stomping her feet in place a bit as a shiver runs over her. "As good as can be expected. Ratchet says my ankle's all better, at least. Maybe now Sunstreaker will stop treating me like an invalid."

Ari chuckles softly. "Sideswipe can be just as bad when I'm hurt. Even though I heal almost instantly now."

"Yeah, but he's your sparkmate and your husband. Of course he's gonna mother hen you."

Ari tests her hot dog with her fingers, finding it warm enough and taking a bite to hold off answering right away. If she's not careful, this conversation could go a little sideways, but she wants to know what's going on. Trying for casual, she asks, "Friends are allowed to mother hen you, right? You do that to me."

"Yeah, but this is, like, overkill or something. It's like…like…."

"Like what?"

"Like he's my boyfriend or something." Lina's mouth presses into a thin line, eyes trained on the fire like a moth hoping to find the moon. "It's…weird. I know how the whole Cybertronian thing goes, with sparkmates and stuff. He...shouldn't treat me like that, right? So thinking he could be interested…that's...all in my head, right?"

"Do you want it to be in your head?" Ari asks carefully.

"I want to know what's _real_. What's the truth. My feelings don't matter beyond that."

She places a hand on Lina's shoulder. "Of course your feelings matter."

Lina shrugs roughly out of the touch, snapping, "Look, it _doesn't_ matter, alright? I don't even know."

She bites her lip, looking over at Sunstreaker's alt mode to make sure he didn't hear her outburst. He probably did—superior hearing and all that—but he doesn't move and Ari doesn't mention it, dropping to a whisper, "What do you mean, you don't know?"

Lina sighs, wiping her palms on her borrowed jeans. "I don't really know how I feel. I...try not to think about it."

Her eyes drift off to the side, cheeks flushed for more reasons than just the warm fire. A part of her _does_ know. She's just burying it in denial where she doesn't have to acknowledge it.

Ari knows that feeling.

"But like I said," Lina continues on a sigh, "it doesn't matter. I'm just a human, not a Cybertronian. It's impossible."

"Oh, Lina." Ari leans against her friend's side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Don't you know? That word doesn't mean anything to us. Sideswipe and I make it work, don't we?"

"Yeah, but you two are actually sparkmates and the AllSpark made your lifespans match." She drops her head to Ari's shoulder morosely, eyes gleaming wetly in the light of the fire. "It's impossible for us."

"Even before all the AllSpark stuff, Sideswipe and I were still together," Ari reminds her, rubbing her arm up and down in comfort. "We dated and even got married before we knew what the AllSpark would do."

Lina sniffs, wiping at her face. "I just don't want to get hurt in all of this."

"I know, but that's part of being in love. You're going to get hurt now and then, and you're probably going to hurt him. That's just the way it is, doesn't matter what species you are."

"Well, that's no fun," Lina sulks.

"No, but it's worth it." Ari pulls away, taking Lina by the shoulders to turn her until she can see her face, scrunched up in displeasure. "It _is_. So don't give up on it just yet. Don't close yourself off from the possibility. Because if he feels the same way for you, then you could make each other so happy."

A small smile tugs at Lina's mouth. "You really think so?"

A door in Ari's mind jiggles, just ever so slightly. It's not ready to be opened. Not yet. It's waiting for something. But it causes a smile to bloom on Ari's face, as big and bright as the hope in her chest.

"Oh, yeah, Lina. I really do."

And she can't wait to see it happen.

Bucky shuffles over to their fire, more uncertain than an ex-Hydra assassin should be. Ari shoots him a smile and steps closer to Lina, encouraging him to stand on her other side so he can roast his hotdog over the fire.

Lina sighs in relief next to her, their conversation shelved for now, but Ari's okay with that. She doesn't want to push. But hopefully with a bit of gentle guiding, her and Sunstreaker will be able to find their way to each other.

Though the two of them are rather stubborn.

"So, Bucky," Ari says, taking a quick bite of her own hotdog. "How are you holding up? Was Loki able to take care of those headaches?"

He turns his hotdog over the flame absently. "Yeah, whatever he did worked. My head's all good now. Just gotta sort through all these memories."

"Seventy years is a lot of time. I'm sure it'll take a while."

"Yeah," he says with a grimace. "And most of them won't be pleasant memories. Still, I want to know everything that happened."

"Kudos to you," Lina snorts, lowering her hotdog closer to the flames. "I don't think I'd want to remember it at all."

Firelight dances in Bucky's blue eyes, casting dark shadows along his face. "The not knowing. It's worse. Because then, _anything_ could have happened."

"And you're mind probably comes up with things that are worse than the truth," Ari says, tossing her used skewer into the fire.

"Exactly. So I'd rather know once and for all. Best way to deal with it."

"And are you dealing with it okay?"

He's quiet for a long time, simply staring at his hotdog dangling in the fire. Just a few inches closer and it'll burn to a crisp. Ari's fingers curl into her palms. It's a stupid question. Of course he isn't okay.

But she wants him to be. However, wanting something to be true does not make it so.

"I wish I could just forget, like Lina said," Bucky murmurs. "Just erase it all and go back to the way things were. Before Hydra, before the war, before any of it. Just go back to it being me and Stevie, getting into trouble on the streets of New York."

He pulls his hotdog back, taking a bite without checking how hot it is, probably burning his tongue but not caring. "Steve wants that, I know. Though he hasn't said as much. Still, I can tell. Just...the way he looks at me sometimes. It's like he's looking at an old photograph. It's me yet...not me."

"He wants you to be the happy-go-lucky Bucky he remembers," Ari says softly. "Before you fell from the train."

"Before the whole war even started, before I got drafted. He'd take us back in time, if he could. But it all happened and we can't undo it all. We can't go back, neither of us, and ignoring it ain't gonna fix it either."

"You've got to learn to live with it," Lina says with a nod. "It's like finding out about aliens. Sure, it was nice when we didn't know. When we thought we were alone in the universe. We all felt safe and in control, but finding out about all these big, powerful aliens changes things. We can't help but wonder when the next invasion is going to be and everyone's afraid. We want the ignorance of before but...we can't just erase what we know now."

"Yeah, kinda." Bucky finishes his hotdog in two big bites. "But aliens might be a bit freakier than anything I could've done."

"How did you take the whole Cybertronian thing?" Ari asks curiously, sensing his need for a subject change. She trusts the others handled the introductions while she and Darcy were away and, by the way his hand clutches his stake a little bit tighter and his eyes rove over all the alt modes surrounding them, she's not disappointed.

"It's...weird," he replies lamely. "I mean, cars? Really?"

"All the weird slag going on lately and you think the fact that they transform into cars is weird?" Lina asks skeptically, blowing on her hotdog where it caught fire a little.

"You screamed the first time you saw us transform," Sunstreaker says, his holoform suddenly blinking on right next to Lina, making her jump. He grins slyly. "Admit it. It still freaks you out."

"Don't do that!" she yells, pointing her hotdog on a stick at him threateningly. "The only thing that freaks me out is the fact that you have to be such an aft all the time. I mean, seriously, is there a nice circuit in your processor anywhere?"

"I don't think I can be nice to anyone who murders food like that." He uses his finger to brush the stake out of his face, looking down at the burnt hotdog on the end in horror. "Did you really have to set it on fire? What did it ever do to you?"

"What? They're good like this!" Lina pinches her hotdog with her fingers, smirking in satisfaction, before taking a big bite out of it.

Sunstreaker gags. "Sorry, but I don't like a mouthful of ash."

Lina swallows, giving him a coy smile. "Well, you don't know what you're missing."

"Yeah," Sunstreaker mutters, an odd seriousness overtaking his voice as his eyes sweep over Lina's face with a softness Ari has never seen on him before. "I think I just might."

Ari holds her breath, wondering if she shouldn't find an excuse to drag Bucky away subtly, when Bucky suddenly blurts out, "I remember you."

Sunstreaker and Lina snap out of the little bubble that was just starting to form around them, each taking a small step away from each other. Ari holds in a sigh. Those two will figure this out eventually.

Hopefully, anyway. The blushing is a good sign, at least.

"Who do you remember?" Lina stammers, focusing all of her attention on Bucky instead of the holoform next to her.

"You," Bucky mumbles, head tilted in curiosity like he's trying to remember where he last placed his pencil. One of his memories must be replaying in his head, but from when? "I think I remember you."

"Uh, of course you do," Ari answers warily, wondering if she should go get Ratchet. "You met her earlier today, remember? When you first woke up in Ratchet's alt mode."

He shakes his head, eyes narrowing in concentration. "No, before that."

Ari's stomach drops. Yeah, he did see them before. And it wasn't a good first meeting.

She holds out her hands placatingly, trying to come up with something soothing to say, but then it's too late. His eyes widen in recognition. Backing away, he drops his stake in the dirt of the concrete floor as his head shakes back and forth.

"Bucky," Ari says, as calmly as she can, while reaching out to Sideswipe over the bond. She tells him to go get Steve, Loki, and Ratchet, not really sure what kind of help he's going to need right now. "Bucky, it's okay."

"No, it's not!" he shouts in horror, backing up three steps for every one she takes, so she just stops.

"Sure it is, Bucky. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I...I tried to kill her." He points his finger at Lina, like a little boy accusing someone of picking on him, but he looks so lost. His eyes widen even further, his finger rounding on Ari. "And you! I tried to kill you both!"

"None of that was your fault, Buck," Steve says, coming up beside Bucky and placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Bucky quickly shakes it off, continuing to back up.

She can see Loki and Ratchet's holoform a little ways behind him, ready just in case he decides to bolt.

But there's no running from this. Not really. Not from his own memories. He knew he wouldn't like most of what he saw, but knowing that and living with it are two different things.

"I don't blame you for it," Ari reassures him softly, hoping he sees the sincerity in her eyes. "It wasn't your fault. Lina doesn't think so either. Right, Lina?"

Lina opens her mouth and Ari can just tell there's a snarky remark on the tip of her tongue. Ari arches a brow at her, saying without words that snarky is so not what Bucky needs right now. Lina's mouth snaps shut and she rolls her eyes playfully. "Yeah, just chill. No hard feelings and all that jazz."

"How can you just say that?" he demands, angry tears brimming in his eyes as he grips his hair in his fingers, so hard it's like he's trying to tear it out of his scalp. "I tried to _kill_ you! And you wouldn't have been the first. I've killed dozens of people!"

Steve shakes his head, eyes brimming with his own tears. He reaches out for his friend again but, again, Bucky backs away. "It wasn't your fault, Bucky. None of it was your fault. You didn't do those things. Hydra did."

"It was still my hands!" He shoves his hands out in front of him, palms up and fingers curled like claws. Disgust drips from his eyes as he stares at them, especially the metal hand. His voice pitches to a near-whisper, "I...I'm a monster. Their weapon. You should just kill me now. Put me down like a rabid dog."

"No," Steve begs, the word coming out broken. "No, Buck, we're not gonna do that."

They stand in silence, unsure how to battle the utter defeat coming off of Bucky in waves like a thick, cloying smoke. How do they help him when he doesn't want to help himself? When he doesn't think he _deserves_ to be helped?

"Hold up there, mister," Darcy objects, stomping right up into Bucky's face. Even jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "Are you telling me you _wanted_ to kill them?"

"W-Well, no," Bucky stammers, eyes wide and caught off guard, not even bothering to push her hand away.

"Then why did you do it, huh? If you didn't want to, then why?"

"I…." His mechanical arm whirrs as his hands clench and unclench sporadically at his sides. "I wanted to follow orders."

She waves her hand dismissively. "That was because of the brainwashing. Don't trust those memories as an example for what you really feel. Right now, in this moment, without anyone else's input or influence but just _you_ —do you want to kill them?"

He shakes his head immediately. "No. Never."

She gives him a soft smile. "Then everything's good. It wasn't your fault and no one here's gonna blame you for it."

He frowns, eyes sliding over to Natasha, lingering on Tony. "But there are so many other things I've done. It was still these hands that did it all."

"It still was not your fault," Loki tells him. "I know that feels hard to accept now. I…have experienced this level of manipulation myself before. It will be a long time until you feel like yourself again. But we will do all that we can to help you."

"Why? You don't even know me."

"Doesn't matter," Ari says, pouring all of the warmth and kindness she can muster into her smile. "You're friends with Steve and he's like family. And even without that, knowing that we _can_ help, how can we not?"

"We've got you, Buck," Steve says, reaching out once again to touch Bucky's shoulder. Bucky doesn't pull away this time, instead sagging into the touch. A shaky breath of relief whooshes out of Steve. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Bucky's mouth twists into some semblance of a smile, trying so hard to believe his best friend. "Well, if Captain America says it, then it must be true."

* * *

Once their stomachs are full and a watch is set up, they settle in for the night. Sideswipe transforms into his bipedal form, allowing Ari to stretch out on his chassis like she's used to doing at home.

Lina sleeps on the ground across the warehouse, lying on a blanket and looking fast asleep already with her hands pillowed under her head. She lays on her side, facing away from Sunstreaker who sits just a few feet from her in his bipedal form, gazing down at the human with a combination of fear and longing.

 _"What do you think is going on between them?"_ Ari asks, snuggling deeper into Sideswipe's arms as she watches her friends, Sunstreaker too consumed to notice her staring.

" _There are definitely real feelings there,"_ Sideswipe answers, presence pensive in her mind. _"He cares about her."_

" _Like, as just a friend, or something more?"_

" _Not sure."_ His thumb rubs up and down her back soothingly. _"Would it really be so bad if he did? Care about her as more than a friend, I mean."_

 _"Honestly? I don't know. I know what I told Lina, that the hurt would be worth it, but...she's right, Sides. They're not like you and me. I always had a feeling of_ _…rightness with you. And because of the AllSpark, that feeling led me to believe that things would work out in the end. But Lina isn't the AllSpark. She and Sunstreaker don't have any alien mumbo jumbo to help them out and fix things to make them sparkmates or to extend Lina's lifespan. They'll just…have a couple of decades together—if things even work out between them—and then…that's it. She'll be gone."_

Those thoughts bring tears to Ari's eyes, an intense sorrow filling her chest until she can barely breathe. The same goes for her. All of the friends and family she has now or will ever have—beside the Autobots, Loki, and Thor—they'll all be gone in a couple of decades while Ari lives on, unaging. Even Loki and Thor will be gone eventually. She'll outlive them all, even some of the Autobots. She'll live as long as Sideswipe, so long as he lives out the full length of his natural life.

They'll all be gone one day.

Sideswipe's presence wraps around her, an imitation of the arms around her, holding her close. She burrows into his love and comfort, allowing the bond to help her push the tears away.

" _Don't go thinking like that, sweetspark,"_ he soothes, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. _"Whatever time they have together—and whatever time you have with all of these people—you know it'll be worth it. Living with the sorrow of their passing is better than living with regret."_

She turns in his arms, pressing the side of her face into his chassis. Tears dampen his metal but he doesn't say anything. _"Would you have regretted it? If the AllSpark couldn't have made our bond and my long life possible, and if we never got together, would you have regretted not taking that chance?"_

" _Every minute of every day until the day I offlined,"_ he replies vehemently, the seriousness of his words echoing across the bond. It's rare that he is ever so serious. When he is, she knows to listen to his words, to take them to heart as a truth as unbreakable as the bond itself.

 _"So what do we do?"_

 _"For now, I think it's best to just leave them be. They need to decide for themselves what it is they want, and whether or not it's worth it."_

 _"I just want them happy, Sides."_

 _"I know. And they will be. There's nothing we can do to help that along, and pushing won't solve anything. This is something they need to do on their own."_

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _So many feels._

 _I'm slowly getting Lina and Sunstreaker together. Don't worry, it's gonna happen because the characters decided it for me a long time ago (it seriously wouldn't leave me alone until I made it official for the story) and they're getting a happy ending. I swear it. It just, you know, might not be smooth. Smooth rides aren't fun. Bumpy ones are. Supposedly._

 _And then there's Bucky, struggling with everything that's happened. That seriously wouldn't be easy for anyone. I know where he's going to end up at the end of it, though, and he'll make it through okay. It's just, you know, again with the smooth rides. Not very interesting._

 _Next chapter will be up July 27. We make it to the mysterious destination. Which I'm sure some of you have guessed where they're going._

 _And one more thing! For my fans of Life Versus Living, my Jurassic World fic. There have been inquiries into whether or not I'm going to write a sequel. I held off on writing more for the series once I found out another movie was coming out for the same reason. Am I going to write a sequel?_

 _Yes. Yes, I am._

 _I really liked Fallen Kingdom. It had concepts I was already thinking of using in some more one-shots, so it'll be easy to tweak them a bit to make them work._

 _And I want to save the fragging dinosaurs, fraggit. Stop killing my babies!_

 _*cough* Anyway, that probably won't get written until this fic is done. But it will happen, so keep an eye out._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	7. How Could They?

_**Author's Note**_

 _So, this chapter has a lot of movie stuff. A lot of changes, too, and meshing together. I have to say, it was rather difficult and I hope it turned out okay._

 _But I keep a promise this chapter. A certain birdy is coming into play._

 _Now, go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **How Could They?**_

They make it to Chicago by mid-morning the next day, hiding out in an abandoned church while Sunstreaker goes ahead to scout out the coordinates. When he makes it back, he transforms, faceplates creased in confusion.

"What did you find?" Optimus asks, him and the others transforming as well.

"It's some kind of tech company called Kinetic Solutions Incorporated," Sunstreaker answers, optics shining down in the air in front of them to show blueprints from when he scanned the building.

Ari stiffens at the name. "I know that company. Galloway tried to talk me into adding KSI to my list of companies to consider for the tech sharing project."

"Why'd you pass them up?" Will asks.

"They mostly make technology for the consumer market but they also hold several military contracts. No company with military contracts made it on my list. Couldn't trust them not to make weapons."

"Well, if Galloway wanted them for the tech project, then they're doing _something_ for Hydra." Steve studies the blueprints closely, like he's trying to burn the image into his brain. "Sunstreaker, were you able to find out anything else?"

"Yeah, they're letting in cars back here." Sunstreaker points to a security gate at the back of the building. "Not car parts, but actual finished cars."

"What for?"

"Not sure. Something called scanning."

"Why would a tech company want cars?" Jane asks curiously.

"They shouldn't," Ari says, rubbing at the back of her neck. "They don't even make cars."

"Were they going in on trucks?" Steve asks, eyes twinkling with ideas.

Sunstreaker nods. "Yeah, and individually. Everyone going through the security gate gets their KSI I.D. scanned before being let in. The cars then get driven into one of the research buildings."

Steve nods decisively. "Then that's our way in. One of us goes in with the photostatic veil and an Autobot posing as one of the people taking in cars. Once inside, you poke around to find out what they're up to."

Bucky snorts. "Hydra is definitely not just interested in cars. They've gotta be using them for something. Maybe smuggling?"

"But smuggling what?" Tony wonders, brow furrowed in confusion. "What could they possibly want that they can't get in and out of the country the old-fashioned way?"

"It can't be drugs or money or anything typical like that," Natasha agrees. "But that's if they're using these cars to smuggle anything at all. This could be about something else."

"And there's still that Cybertronian siding with them," Will adds. "It could have something to do with him."

Ari hums thoughtfully, something tickling at the back of her head but when she looks at the AllSpark door she's still not allowed to look. "That sounds more right. Maybe they're gathering alt modes for him."

"For just one mech?" Ironhide asks dubiously.

"He may not be alone. He could have others with him who stayed out of the war. Though what they could possibly want, I have no idea."

"Only one way to find out," Rob says, clapping his hands and rubbing them together excitedly. "So who's gonna go infiltrate, huh?"

The AllSpark niggles at the back of Ari's head, insistent, leading her to speak before anyone else can, "I'll go."

Bucky huffs in irritation. "Again? Really?"

"Hey, I am more than qualified," Ari protests, folding her arms in front of her chest. "And I have nothing tracking me now so they won't know it's me. I'll even use a different face on the veil if it makes you feel any better."

"I still don't like it," Will says, taking a firm stance next to Bucky. "You'd be going into the wolf's den, kiddo, and there's no guarantee we can get you out in time if something goes wrong."

"But I need to do this," she insists, brushing her hand along her marks meaningfully.

He throws his head back, groaning deeply. "This is an AllSpark thing, isn't it."

Bucky grimaces. "AllSpark thing?"

"Sometimes, the AllSpark wants her to do or see things," Trent explains, shrugging a shoulder casually. "It'll help point her in the right direction and it's usually the right thing to do."

"So we're just gonna listen to some alien mumbo jumbo?"

Ari nods firmly. "There's something in there I'm supposed to see. I don't know what, but I get the feeling it's the key to figuring all of this out."

"And it's not like she'll be alone," Sideswipe points out, kneeling down behind her and brushing a finger along the side of her arm. "I'll be with her."

"You'll need to change your alt mode," Will warns, like that's some sort of deterrent, but Sideswipe just snorts.

"I'm not letting her go in there without me," Sideswipe says stubbornly. "I don't care if I have to turn into a piece of junk. I'm still going with her."

Ari smiles, brushing his presence with her own along the bond, promising to make it up to him later. And that she'll find him another Stingray as soon as this is over.

They're all quiet for a few moments, a stand-off as they struggle with the decision even though it's an obvious one. She's the most logical choice, just like before. She's the only one with the right kind of training thanks to Natasha and who can wear the veil without still being recognizable.

And she needs to go. Doing what the AllSpark wants her to do is always the right choice, just like Trent said.

"We stay in constant communication," Will finally relents, pointing a finger at her seriously. "You wear an ear comm and keep us up to date on everything going on. If you go silent for longer than five minutes without warning, we're going in to get you. Got it?"

She nods eagerly. "Yeah, got it."

"And Loki is going with you."

"But we only have the one photostatic veil," Evie points out.

"I do not need one," Loki says, a shimmer of magic moving across his form like a mirage as he morphs before their eyes. His features change, long black hair and slender build transforming into a shorter, stockier body with short brown hair and a slight stubble dusting his chin. The smirk is the only thing that looks familiar. "Will this suffice?" he asks, voice not as deep as before and with a distinct American accent.

Ari grins. "Fantastic. Now all we need is one of those I.D. cards."

"If we can get a scan of one I can make a copy in a pinch," Sunstreaker says.

John frowns. "How are we supposed to scan one without being seen and without anyone noticing?"

"I could do it," Tony volunteers with an enthusiastic grin.

Bruce rolls his eyes. "Tony, you fly around in a red and gold suit. That's the opposite of not getting noticed. You can't go anywhere without being noticed."

"Fine, then what about Loki? He can magic himself a new face and steal one."

"Nope, won't work," Natasha says, crossing her arms with one hip popped out. "We need to copy the card information exactly so that it'll work at the security checkpoints. If we stole one from someone, that person will probably report it stolen and then security will be looking out with anyone using his card. And then there's the problem of two people with the same card information being in the building at the same time. That'll put up red flags."

"So, what, you're suggesting we steal a card _and_ the person it's attached to and sit on them for a while?" Rob asks incredulously.

Natasha shrugs helplessly. "It's the only way to ensure they don't get caught. And we'll need two, one for Ari and Loki each."

"Uh, aren't we supposed to not be doing illegal stuff?" Darcy asks, voice small.

"Sometimes to keep the world going, you have to bend the rules a little. They'll be fine. We'll just put them to sleep for a little while. By the time they wake up, we'll be long gone."

"They will not be harmed, Darcy," Optimus ensures her. "You have my word."

Will sighs deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright. So how do we snatch two KSI employees off the streets without anyone noticing?"

"I could fly in with my hammer and snatch them up," Thor offers happily.

"But it's the same problem with Tony," Jane reminds him. "You're too recognizable. Someone with the veil or Loki would have to do it, and then they need to get them out of there fast."

A slow, devious smile spreads across Steve's face. "I think I know someone who can help."

* * *

Steve got stationed by S.H.I.E.L.D. in Chicago for a few weeks a while back. A local weapon's dealer "acquired" a whole slew of Chitauri tech and was selling it off to the highest bidder. Steve and Natasha were sent to take the operation down and track any alien tech for retrieval.

During that time, Steve met Sam Wilson while out on his daily morning jog. The two hit it off and became fast friends. Sam's a paratrooper vet, working at the local V.A. as a counselor. Ari can imagine how the two could have become friends—Steve, the slowly recovering soldier with enough trauma for an entire army, and Sam, a man who knows what it's like to serve his country but born in the modern era with enough patience to help Steve ease his way into this new world.

They kept in touch after Steve returned to S.H.I.E.L.D., meeting up whenever they could. Ari suspects Sam is the first friend Steve has ever made outside of work.

And now Sam is getting dragged into this mess. She can understand the need, but it's still kind of sad.

It's not like Sam is really getting _dragged_ , anyway. Tony provides Steve with a burner phone to call Sam up, with the Autobots making sure it's completely untraceable without anyone able to hear the call. Steve gives Sam the lowdown of what's going on, and, before Steve can even properly ask, Sam signs up.

It is hard to say no to Captain America, after all, but he sounds a bit more eager than that. It makes Ari wonder if he's been waiting for the opportunity to serve again.

While Sam takes a roundabout path through the city towards their hideout to make sure he isn't followed, Natasha pays a visit to a military fort not far from here to "acquire" a piece of tech of their own, something Sam used during his paratrooper days.

When Natasha brings it back with a victorious smile, Ari stares down at it in confusion before turning to Steve. "I thought you said he was a piolet."

"I never said pilot," Steve says smugly. "So do you think it'll work?"

"Yeah," Ari chuckles. "Yeah, that'll do nicely."

"Knock, knock!"

They all turn at the voice to see a man standing in their crumbling doorway, dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, and boots with a backpack slung over one shoulder. His skin is dark like chocolate with a thin layer of black hair on his shaved head and a goatee around his mouth.

His eyes dance around the room, taking in the giant aliens and their merry band of fugitives in stride. "I gotta admit, Cap, you've got some pretty big friends."

Tony grins brightly. "Why thank you!"

Sam smirks. "I was talking about Thor."

Thor laughs boisterously as Tony pouts. "He was not talking about your head, my friend." Thor approaches Sam first, holding out his hand to clasp arms with him in a vigorous warrior's shake. Thor really is easily the biggest person in the room, other than the Autobots. "You must be Sam. I am Thor, son of Odin and prince of Asgard."

"I know who you are," Sam replies, equal parts bemused and nervous as his eyes cast around the room again. "I know who most of you are. You know the media is painting the Autobots as alien threats to the planet, right?"

Ari stiffens, leaning back against Sideswipe's leg like she can physically shield him from their accusations. "We know," she replies darkly. "But those are lies told by Hydra. We need your help to set things right."

"Well, I'm all yours. Just tell me what you need me to do."

"I appreciate it, Sam," Steve says, clasping his friend on the shoulder. "Really. And as soon as your part's done, you can go back home and pretend you never saw us."

"Hey, it's the end of the world as we know it." Sam shrugs. "I'm not about to sit this one out. If I'm in, I'm in all the way. I just need-"

"This?" Natasha holds up the tech she recently liberated, handing it to him.

Sam grins, looking down at the device fondly as he slips off his backpack. "Awesome. I feel like I haven't seen this in ages."

"It's an impressive piece of tech," Tony says, meandering around Sam as he watches him put the pack on. "I can make a better one though. Remind me to put it on my list of things to do when the world isn't ending."

"Man, I'm just happy to be flying _this_ one again."

He buckles the straps across his chest, securing the pack in place. It looks almost like a metal backpack. That is, until Sam activates it. The machine powers to life, small engines coming online as giant metal wings shoot out of the pack, ready to take him to the sky.

He takes the goggles Steve holds out to him, securing them in place over his eyes.

No wonder his codename is Falcon. He looks just like a predator bird, capable of swooping out of the air to catch his prey before they can so much as gasp in surprise.

And that's just what they have Sam do. Ari and Loki work together to lure two KSI members into an alley on their way home from work, one by one. Sam then swoops in, hits them with an I.C.E.R. to knock them out, and then carries them off. They get scans of the cards and then dump the men in two separate dumpsters on opposite ends of town. Safely out of sight and drugged enough to keep them out for at least a day. They won't have any idea what happened to them.

It's almost dark by the time they get back, just in time to find Darcy distributing paper bowls filled with the soup she has cooking over a fire. Where she got the huge pot to pour the cans of soup in, Ari doesn't know. She probably doesn't want to know considering the dump they're in right now.

John looks down at his paper bowl dubiously, glancing at the metal pot like it's going to bite him.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Darcy scolds him. "I had Ratchet sanitize it, I swear. You're not going to get tetanus or something."

"That's not how that works, Darcy," Bruce says, hiding his smile behind his plastic spoon.

Darcy rolls her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "This is the thanks I get for trying to be helpful? Next time, you guys can get your own food."

"I think the food's just fine, doll," Bucky says as he takes the next bowl from her, throwing her a wink. "And it is very appreciated."

Darcy grins brightly, red dusting her cheeks that has nothing to do with the roaring fire right next to her. "Thanks, handsome."

Ari chuckles, leaning back in Sideswipe's arms as she watches her friends and family. "I'm glad they're staying in such high spirits," she says, only loud enough for him to hear.

He tightens his arms around her, the heat from his warm metal keeping the chill of the drafty church at bay. "Things aren't looking too good right now. It's either break down or keep going."

"Can they keep it up though?"

"They're strong."

"But are they strong enough?" Optimus rumbles over to them, sitting down next to Sideswipe. "The world is about to change, no matter what happens in the next few days."

"What, you mean if we lose?"

"And if we win."

"It's all going to come down, Sideswipe," Ari says, turning in Sideswipe's arms so she can look up at him properly. "We're going to lose at least half of S.H.I.E.L.D. and who knows how many government officials around the world. It's all corrupted, diseased. There's no saving it."

Sideswipe's brow furrows. "But S.H.I.E.L.D. still does a lot of good. There's a lot of bad that they've stopped, that would have kept going if not for them. What's going to happen, if they're not there to fight the bad guys in the shadows that the rest of the world doesn't see?"

"I don't know." Ari worries her lip between her teeth, looking at the others and then at Optimus. "We can't keep what we have, not without risking keeping some remnant of Hydra. We need to pull it all out from the roots and start new."

Optimus nods. "It's the only way to be sure. But what shall take its place?"

* * *

The next day, they find Sideswipe a new alt mode along the way to KSI, a classic Corvette about fifty years old. It's sleek, like a lot of Corvette's tend to be, with a nice red paint job that reminds Ari of what Sideswipe looked like when she first met him, but in a lot better condition. More vintage than junkyard. Nice enough to get them inside.

She's going to fragging miss his Stingray though. He is, too, but if all goes well today, he'll get it back soon.

They drive up to the back security gate at KSI, Ari with her photostatic veil making her look vaguely Asian and Loki magically wearing his disguise. They hold their breaths as the guard scans their I.D.s but after just a moment they get waved through.

She discreetly presses a finger to her ear comm. "We're in."

They're directed to a warehouse at one end of the research facility, driving right inside where a lot of other cars are parked. At least fifty or more. The thought of that many hostile Cybertronians being on Earth turns Ari's stomach sour. That's the worse-case scenario.

She tries not to think about it. Nothing is true until proven and all that.

They keep driving since no one really tells them where to park and they want to keep looking around anyway. The next room over is some kind of showroom, big and round with schematics on the walls and T.V.s playing some kind of demo on a loop. It's completely empty. Well, sort of.

Sideswipe comes to an abrupt halt. Right in front of a Cybertronian standing in full bipedal form in the center of the room. Along with another one in alt mode that looks like it might be the other one's twin since they both have the same pink and black coloring.

At least, they look like Cybertronians. Ari and Loki get out of Sideswipe's alt mode slowly, approaching the still forms with caution. They haven't moved or reacted to their presence at all, still as statues.

"Are they…alive?" Loki asks, nearly a whisper.

Ari tilts her head, staring at them closely, and then glancing at the screens and schematics around the room. Schematics of the Cybertronians. And then the words of the spokeswoman in the video demo truly start to register.

" _We took old, alien technology and made it better in every way,"_ she says with a proud smile. _"Introducing Stinger. KSI. We make the world."_

"They're not Cybertronian," Ari says with dawning horror. "They made them."

"What do you mean, made them?" Loki asks warily.

"KSI. I don't know how but…they managed to make their own Cybertronians."

Ari isn't sure what she was expecting. But it definitely wasn't this.

"But they can't!" Sideswipe says through his speakers. "They can't give them sparks, their souls. They should just be lifeless husks."

"Not exactly. Not if they're given a brain," Ari says, approaching one of the schematics and tapping at the diagram of the Stinger's head. "Says here they're calling them Transformers. They've mimicked the Cybertronian processor and put some kind of artificial intelligence inside. They mimic life but are controlled by KSI."

"You mean by Hydra," Loki corrects darkly.

"Exactly. This is how Galloway convinced the World Security Council that the Autobots and N.E.S.T. aren't needed to fight the Decepticons anymore. They've got these Transformers that will obey their every command now."

Voices filter down a hallway, a large group of people entering the room led by a man that looks vaguely familiar.

Along with Theodore Galloway himself. What is he doing here?

"The factory doesn't have enough Transformium for production because you haven't kept your promise to supply it," Galloway says in frustration, fists clenching sporadically where they're clasped at the small of his back.

What the frag is Transformium?

"Will you relax?" the man huffs, adjusting the glasses perched on his nose. "Everything will work itself out. We just need more time."

Galloway pauses in his fast gait, turning to face the man fully with growing ire. "Our entire factory is up and running-"

"Hang on, hang on." The man boldly cuts Galloway off with a wave of his hand, noticing Ari and Loki standing in the middle of the room watching them. Ari freezes, suddenly glad she's with the God of Lies. They weren't exactly told they were allowed to be here.

And she's afraid of saying something that will tip Galloway off. She wants nothing more than to strangle the man, but now is not the time.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" the man demands, stalking over to them. "What's with this vintage crap? We're not scanning collector car junk."

Ari bristles, only held back by Loki's gentle hand on her shoulder.

Sideswipe is not a piece of junk.

"What do you think it is that we make here?" he asks in exasperation, looking between the two of them like an impatient teacher waiting for the right answer. "Hmm? We make poetry. We're poets. Alright? You work for me, you get one mistake. One. Understood?"

Work for him? So this must be the head of KSI. Joshua Joyce, if she remembers correctly.

"Of course, sir," Loki replies smoothly. "It won't happen again."

"It certainly won't. So let's get this pathetic thing out of here. And you, too." He turns on his heel to return to his group, utterly dismissing them.

Ari's eyes flit over to Galloway where he stands impatiently waiting, but there's no indication he thinks anything is amiss.

The silence echoes once they three of them are alone again, filled with relief that they aren't getting hauled off right now, along with tension because they can't leave yet. They're not done.

But Sideswipe sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Sides, you gotta go," Ari says carefully, already prepared for the rebuttal.

And she's not disappointed. His fury is as potent along the bond as smoke clogging her lungs.

"No way," he says vehemently. "No fragging way. I'm not going anywhere without you."

"Sides." She places her hands on his hood, staring at his windshield like she's staring at his face. "We still have sneaking around to do and you can't come with us. Not now that you're expected to be gone."

"There isn't anything else to do! We've found out what Hydra's up to. Let's just go."

"No. There's got to be more than just this. Hydra has to have a plan for these things." She glances at Stinger out of the corner of her eye, finding it really creepy how it just stands there, like a corpse that could turn into a zombie at any moment. "They're not making these things to fight Decepticons, not Hydra. There's more to it than that and we have to find out what it is before it's too late."

"But you said we fight together," he says, hurt piercing the bond into her very soul. "We both promised."

The backs of her eyes sting and she blinks rapidly, looking up at the ceiling for a second before looking at him again. "I know, Sides. But if we want to keep fighting, we have to do this. It's the only way."

"What if I got another alt mode? There are all those cars in the other room."

"Do you really think you can do that without anyone noticing? There are guards crawling all over the place."

He wilts on his wheels a little, mind still frantically grasping at straws.

"I will keep her safe for you," Loki promises solemnly. "You have my word. And you know she is a formidable warrior on her own."

His stubbornness starts to break down a little, like dried paint flaking off a wall. She pushes a little more, "Just go regroup with the others, Sides. If things go wrong, all of you can come in to get us in a heartbeat." She strokes her hand across his hood, trying to give any comfort she can. "I'll be okay, Sides. I promise."

He chuckles brokenly. "I thought you said you weren't going to make any more promises about your personal safety?"

"I know," she smirks, "but if the AllSpark wants me to go in there, then I have to trust it'll get me back out."

That finally pushes the sigh out of him, reluctant acceptance taking the place of his anger. "Then I guess I'll just have to trust it, too."

Leaving him in that room is one of the hardest things Ari's ever had to do. But she does it, allowing the AllSpark to lead her and Loki through the research facility to the place they're supposed to go.

A couple rooms in, they find some lab coats hanging on a coat rack, slipping them on when no one's watching. From there, they walk confidently through the halls, running into more and more people who all seem to mostly be scientists. These must be the people who helped design Stinger, but how did they even do it? How did they figure out how Cybertronians work?

Being able to go from a robot to a car and vice versa isn't exactly easy, or something easy to figure out. It's far more advanced than anything being developed right now, not to mention, regular metal can't exactly cut it. It can't move the right way. They had to have had some sort of help. Maybe from their Cybertronian friend?

And, again, what the frag is Transformium?

The hallway suddenly opens up into a large warehouse-like space filled with dozens of work stations partitioned off from one another. Scientists bustle about all over the place, heavy machinery buzzing and whirling, and someone over the intercom says something about dissection room seven.

Well, that doesn't bode well.

She glances at Loki and he shrugs, so they mill around the different little rooms, looking at all the activity and pretending they aren't lost, just trying to get a sense of what they're doing.

With each room they investigate, the angrier and sicker Ari gets.

There are body parts. Cybertronian body parts laid out on tables like pieces of meat in a butcher shop. A couple of heads lay among them. Most of them with red optics, now dim, lifeless. She sees Decepticons from Chicago, Egypt, even from the Battle of Mission City. These bodies were supposed to have been disposed of.

Instead Hydra managed to get them here. But it's not just Decepticons.

She sees heads with blue optics, too. Autobots they never even knew made it to Earth.

Loss rips through her, like someone's torn her apart from the inside out to join those lain out here like recycled junk. These _people_ , they were her potential friends, her family. Now she'll never get to know them, their lives snuffed out by the people who were supposed to be their allies.

How did she not know they made it to Earth? How had N.E.S.T. missed this?

But, of course, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites they've been using to detect potential arrivals coming from space. It would have been simple for Hydra to keep them from finding out.

::Ari?:: her ear comm crackles to life, Will's voice coming through. ::Is everything okay?::

"No," she whispers, voice hoarse as she tries to contain her grief and absolute _fury_ at the meaningless massacre before her. "They…they've taken parts. Cybertronian parts."

::Decepticons?::

"Autobots, too." Her voice quavers, tears pressing insistently at her eyes. "Dad, they've killed them. Hydra killed them and I just…how _could_ they?"

::I know it's hard, Ari.:: Natasha's voice flows over her like cool water. Calming. Comforting. ::It's not right, what they did. And you have every right to be upset, but be upset later. Right now, you have a mission to accomplish.::

Ari takes a big, centering breath, wiping at her eyes before anyone can see the tear tracks. "Right."

::Tell us what you see.::

Ari takes another deep breath, forcing herself to look around clearly. There're guys in full protective gear working on one of the heads nearby. Kind of like hazmat suits but it looks like more protection from the heat. Robot arms—like what Tony has in his workshop—work around them with attachments sort of like welding torches. They whiz around the head, turning it into fiery liquid that the scientists collect.

"They're melting everything down," Ari murmurs curiously. "They're salvaging the Cybertronian metal."

"It looks like they're collecting it," Loki says, staring into one of the many barrels around the room. Inside is a black, powder-like substance. Metal shavings, ready to be melted down and remolded into something else. "Is this what they mean by Transformium?"

"It must be what they call it. That's how they got the Transformers to work and change forms. They're using actual Cybertronian metal."

"But Hydra would want an entire army, correct? There can't be enough for that many here."

Ari hums in agreement, eyes spotting something big and shiny across the warehouse through one of the patrician doorways. She moves towards it, Loki following behind her. Only to run into her back as she stops suddenly, staring at the Transformer before her. It's taller than Stinger, with a gaping hole in its chassis where a spark chamber should be and faceplates that look a lot like those of the head on the table at its feet.

Megatron. But the scientists in the room call the Transformer Galvatron.

Wires connect to Megatron's head, feeding into a computer. She expects the data scrolling across the screen to be in Cybertronian but it's not. It's in English.

"They're using Megatron's head," she says, feeling ice cold. She never thought she'd see those optics again. They're dim now but...they still give her the creeps, worse than Stinger. Like they really will come back online at any moment. "They've unlocked the secrets to building their own Cybertronians using the information in Megatron's processor."

But something doesn't add up. Stinger looks fine. Normal. There's no gap where the spark chamber should be. So why is Galvatron different?

"Take a look at this," Loki says, shuffling through some papers on a nearby table. Ari joins him to look over his shoulder, trying to act like two scientists hard at work.

"What is it?" Ari whispers quietly, so no one will overhear them.

"They look like experiment logs. For making Galvatron." He looks up at the Transformer before them curiously. "This is not the first time they've tried to make him."

Ari reads over the information carefully. "It looks like the hole in the chassis isn't on purpose. They didn't even want Galvatron to resemble Megatron as much as it does. It just...keeps ending up that way. Something about a glitch in the rendering process based on some information they're getting from the head."

But what kind of information? Why would the rendering process for Galvatron be different than for Stinger? It's the same information. The scientists should be able to take it and make any Transformer they want, however they want. The head shouldn't be changing the design so completely.

Unless...

"Uh, Ari?" Loki says, voice filled with alarm.

"What?"

"Your face is flickering."

Her brow furrows in confusion for a moment before something on her face sparks, hissing in pain as it singes her skin.

Her photostatic veil. It's malfunctioning. And a flickering face is hard to pass over.

"Hey!"

A guard storms towards them and they run, Ari yanking off the useless veil as they go. A recognizable face is still less noticeable than a flickering face, but it does them no good. Alarms blare. People shout. They run down hallways, weaving between the rooms and partitions into the main building, bouncing off walls and skidding around corners.

They still get caught, cornered in a hallway by a good dozen guards.

Ari puts her hands up, telling Loki to do the same. There's no way they'll make it out in one piece now, not with so many people between them and freedom. No matter how much Ari despises it—and she suspects Loki does as well based on his sneer as he holds up his hands—they'll have to get rescued.

She expects Sideswipe to tell her "I told you so" but he refrains. Barely.

The guards prod them down the hall, up an elevator, and into seats in a board room. The walls are completely made of glass, making it impossible to try something and sneak away quietly. Even without that, four guards stay in the room with them, one in each corner wearing full-body tactical gear complete with helmets covering their faces, bulletproof vests, and assault rifles.

Though when Galloway sits down across from her, she doesn't really want to go anywhere. At least, nowhere except straight forward, over the table, to deck Galloway right in the face again and again.

Galloway smirks, leaning back in his chair like it's a throne. "Hello, Ms. Lennox. How nice it is to see you again."

"Why?" Ari snarls, unable to get anything else out through the anger closing around her throat.

"I feel like I should be asking you that," he replies, turning his nose up snobbishly. "Why did you evade federal custody despite direct orders? The Autobots have been officially asked to leave the planet, and yet they've refused, despite the promise they made in the treaty that they would."

"You broke the treaty a long time ago. You've taken Cybertronian technology without permission and made weapons."

"Can you really blame us?" Galloway weaves his fingers together to rest his hands on his stomach, elbows on the armrests of his chair. "We need a way to protect ourselves. The Autobots are unreliable, constantly disobeying orders. We need something we can trust. Something we can control. Our Transformers are the only way to truly be safe from the Decepticons."

Loki tilts his head at Galloway, inspecting him up and down. "I almost believed that. You truly are a gifted liar. If we did not already know the truth, I probably wouldn't have suspected."

Galloway gives him a quizzical look. "And who are you? Their mechanic?"

"No, but he's not wrong," Ari answers before Loki can, not willing to give up the ace up their sleeves just yet. Things are sure to turn to chaos if Loki reveals himself now. "You can tell all the lies you want, Galloway, but we know the truth."

He stiffens, features going completely still, the only sign that he's nervous. "And what would that be?"

Ari places her hands on the table, getting up from her seat to lean over it, getting in his face as much as she's able. The guards aim their guns at her but she ignores them, whispering venomously, "I know you're a piece of Hydra trash, you fragging traitor. And we're going to take you all down."

There's a loud _pop, pop, pop_ of guns going off, making Ari jerk back to fall in her seat in surprise. Galloway lets out a strangled cry as he's shot, slumping face first on the table. The two guards in the corners behind him go down as well before they can even raise their guns in defense.

Ari turns to face the remaining two guards, their weapons still raised from shooting everyone else in the room. Except for her and Loki.

"What the frag?"

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Ah, my infamous cliffhangers. How I have missed them._

 _A lot of stuff went down in this chapter. Hydra is behind KSI, making Transformers. I always hated that humans called the Autobots Transformers in the movies. That's not what they're called. They're Cybertronians. That is the name of their species, and that's what I've stuck to throughout this series. But I figured the fake-Cybertronians can have the Transformer name._

 _Before anyone asks, yes, this is taking place of the Insight Carriers in the Winter Soldier movie. How everything else plays out, you'll just have to wait and see. ;)_

 _Next chapter will be up in two weeks, on August 3rd. What all it will entail, exactly, I don't know. Because I've reached the section of my writing where I just kept writing without stopping for chapter breaks. I should probably get on that. XD_

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	8. A Loss Profound

_**Author's Note**_

 _So I got a section of fic into something that resembles a chapter. Yay! I really need to stop doing the whole just-keep-writing-without-breaks thing and just put in the effort to think out chapter breaks._

 _Maybe I'll do that...eventually..._

 _What can I say, when the words flow, I don't want to stop. But, anyway, this chapter has the return of friends, a lot of movie action, mysteries, feels, and a punch to the gut._

 _I mean, come on, look at that chapter title. Isn't it a lovely chapter title?_

 _Go onward and enjoy! (I'm a horrible person for enjoying this.)_

* * *

 _ **A Loss Profound**_

One of the guards yanks his helmet off with a groan of displeasure. "That thing was squeezing my brain."

Ari blinks, recognizing that gruff voice, dirty brown hair, and crooked nose. "Clint?"

He grins brightly, tossing the helmet away and slinging his gun over his shoulder—an I.C.E.R., she suddenly realizes. Galloway and the other guards aren't dead. Just knocked out. "Hey, Ari. Fancy meeting you here."

She's half-tempted to smack him upside the head for scaring her like that. Instead, she runs to him, laughter bubbling out of her in equal parts relief, confusion, and happiness, crashing into him in a hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on mission. We were so worried about you!"

"Fury warned me something big was coming, so I went to pull Clint out," another familiar voice says, the other guard yanking his helmet off to reveal Phil. "Then we did a little investigating on our own."

"So you know what's happening?" Loki says, disguise melting away as he turns back into himself.

"We do," Phil says, without so much as a blink. The stoic agent, same as ever, even in the face of magic. "Though I could have sworn we won this war, a long time ago."

"You and Steve both," Ari snorts. "Though Bucky, unfortunately, knew better."

Phil's jaw actually drops slightly. "You mean Sargent Barnes?"

"Uh, it's a long story." A huge crash echoes from downstairs, followed by screaming. "And that would be our ride out of here. Come on. We can all share stories later."

Heading for the elevator, Ari raises a hand to her ear comm. "This is Ari. Loki and I are coming down the southeast elevator with two additional friendlies."

" _Who in the world did you pick up here?"_ Tony asks.

"Just a bird and an agent."

" _Tell them it's about time they joined the party,"_ Natasha adds, but Ari hears the subtext.

"Nat's going to give you an earful when we rendezvous," she warns them. "Just FYI."

The ding of the elevator cuts off their groaning and they exit into chaos.

People are running all over the place, rubble lying everywhere. The Autobots did not hold back when they broke in.

" _Optimus is very mad,"_ Sideswipe says over the bond, filled with trepidation. _"And I mean really mad. I've never seen him like this before."_

" _Honestly, I don't blame him,"_ Ari replies, following the pull of the bond to find them. _"We'll be there soon."_

" _You might want to hurry."_

They find everyone in the research building, all the machinery the scientists were using to salvage the Transformium destroyed. The Avengers and soldiers stand back a ways, each of them kitted out with their usual uniforms and weapons. Except for the Captain America uniform. Steve didn't manage to bring that before he met them at Nat's safehouse.

But none of it is really necessary now. They just watch silently as the Autobots do what they want-destroying what they want—because this…this is for them. This is an atrocity of the highest order. The Autobots deserve a little payback.

Besides, according to the treaty, the Autobots are allowed to act as they see fit if their technology is ever stolen.

Ari runs over to Optimus's feet, his shoulders heaving as he tears through heavy machinery with his sword. "Optimus," she calls softly. "I'm so sorry."

His faceplates are marred with anger and grief—an ugly expression that would make most shrink back in fear—but it is not meant for her. "They will _pay_ for this."

She nods in grim agreement. "They will. I promise."

"Hey, hey! Stop!" a bold voice calls out, the KSI head Ari and Loki met earlier—Joyce—cockily stalking out of the scurrying people to get between the Autobots and the lab. He shows no fear as he stands his ground, glaring up at Optimus. "That's company property!"

Optimus clenches his fists, so close to lashing out at a human despite his oath never to do so. "They're not your property! They were my friends."

Ironhide's arm transforms into a cannon, leveling the weapon at the man's face menacingly.

"Go ahead," Joyce goads. "Show us your true colors, once and for all."

"Just give me the word," Ironhide growls. "I'll splatter him."

"Ironhide," Ari admonishes softly but says no more, despite the way her stomach twists uneasily like something's trying to claw its way out. This has to be their decision but…she doesn't want them to make that decision. If they do, they'll forever lose the trust of the human race.

They'll show they really are no different than the Decepticons. But Ari knows they are.

"Why don't you tell Itchy Fingers here that this is all the spoils of war," Joyce says, so daring it's almost reckless. "Dead metal. Innovation. What we do here is science, because if we don't do it, somebody else will. Because you cannot stop technology."

"We're not your technology!" Optimus kicks out at a series of monitors, smashing them to pieces.

"Let me vaporize his aft," Ironhide says eagerly.

"I broke the code," Joyce says, like he's accepting a Nobel Prize. "I own your whole genome."

Optimus's faceplates twist in disgust. "The world will know what you're doing here."

"The world? The world will approve. We can make you now. Don't you get it? We don't need you anymore."

"Approve?" Ari asks skeptically, stalking towards him until she's just a foot away. "The world will not fragging approve. Do you even know who it is you work for?"

He frowns in confusion. "The government, of course. The government _you_ work for. They initiated this entire project."

Ari barks out a disbelieving laugh. This guy's naivety is just astounding. How did any of this sound okay to him? Does he really not see Cybertronians as living beings? Or was his greed for knowledge and self-advancement really so blinding? "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" he grits out, getting impatient.

"Hydra," she deadpans, enunciating clearly so that maybe it'll get through this guy's thick skull. "You're working for Hydra."

He scoffs. "That's just nonsense. Hydra doesn't exist anymore."

Ari sighs through her nose, knowing how ridiculous it sounds. She wouldn't believe either, if the AllSpark hadn't shown her. Still, it doesn't make it any less true. "Be sure to tell the jury that when it all comes to light. If anyone dies because of these so-called Transformers, the blood will be on your hands."

"Let's go," Optimus says, sounding so broken Ari's heart aches. "We're done here."

All the fight has drained out of them—except for maybe Ironhide who is still itching to shoot something—but there's no more they can do. These people, though doing something horrific, are simply misguided. The real fight is still out there and they're not going to find the proof they need to bring Hydra to light in a place that doesn't even know the truth.

Besides, they're running out of time. Something is coming. Ari can feel it in her bones.

Sideswipe scoops her up and transforms, Ari ending up behind the wheel of his alt mode. Everyone else gets inside an Autobot as well, heading out onto the highway, and that's when she notices something very different about Sideswipe's interior.

It all looks brand new. The latest technology, fancy leather upholstery, the works. There's even a hint of that new car smell. Plus, he's silver again. Definitely not the classic alt mode he was donning before.

"And what is this?" she asks, barely keeping the smirk off her face.

"I...may have scanned an alt mode on the way out," he admits, without a shred of guilt. "Transformed into it once I was out of sight of the facility. It's the latest model of Stingray. KSI had it in line for scanning."

Ari runs her hand along the steering wheel appreciatively. "Hmm, not bad."

"So you approve?"

"Yeah, I think I might. It's different, but a good kind of different."

::Uh, guys?:: Will says, sounding worried. ::We've got company::

Ari turns around to see two vehicles behind them, gaining fast. A silver and black semi and the same pink and black sports car that's supposed to be Stinger's alt mode.

"It's Stinger and Galvatron," Ari says, facing forward again so Sideswipe can get his seatbelt around her.

This is not going to end well.

There are less cars out here, the highway divided by a grass medium, but it's still too many people for Ari's liking. Too many possible casualties. She wants to get farther away if they can, but Galvatron doesn't give them the option.

He transforms, body breaking apart in a flow of metal like a school of fish, reforming down the road in front of them in his bipedal form. He rolls right through a semi, landing on his knees and purposefully using a blade to slice a car in half. Another tries to break right in front of him and he smashes it with his fist, sending it flying in a fiery ball of metal.

Unless Hydra is more bloodthirsty than Ari ever realized, they did not tell him to do that. Stinger is fine, parked motionless behind him, but Galvatron is out of control.

Galvatron stands, raising his arm to fire rockets at them. Everyone swerves, most of the rocket landing in the grass but a few coming too close for comfort.

"Guys, we've got to get out of here," Ari says, turning in her seat again to watch as other cars aren't so lucky.

::What, we're not even going to try to fight?:: Tony asks.

"There's too many civilians here. People have probably died already. If we lose them, they'll stop shooting. Or, at the very least, we need to draw them out somewhere without any people around."

::Ari is right,:: Optimus says. ::We have to try. No more innocent lives will be shed this day.::

Stinger and Galvatron race after them at top speed, one side of Stinger's alt mode opening up to reveal rockets. They fire but miss, Galvatron pulling ahead to try firing more rockets of his own.

He doesn't miss. He shoots his rockets at the civilian vehicles in front of the Autobots, just going under an overpass. A semi fishtails, trying to stop as his trailer gets hit, creating a barrier of cars and wreckage right in front of them.

The Autobots swerve out of the way, but Sides, Sunny, and Optimus are too close to stop. They transform, sending Ari flinging through the air as they jump over the destruction. Her breath catches in her throat as she hurdles towards Optimus, a scream drawing her attention to her left where Lina flies through the air as well, away from Sunstreaker.

Optimus catches them both, rolling on the overpass while cradling them to his chassis protectively. He gets his feet under him and jumps back down to the road, transforming around them so they end up on the bench seat of his alt mode to continue barreling down the road.

Ari loses sight of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, heart lodging in her throat.

" _It's okay,"_ Sideswipe reassures her. _"We're okay. There's no time to stop, just stay with Optimus. Galvatron is really determined to stay after you guys."_

" _Well, that's just great. Tell me something new."_

" _The coast is mostly clear of civilians, so Tony, Thor, and Sam are in the air, trying to take down Stinger."_

" _Is it working?"_

" _Yeah, I think so. So we just have Galvatron to worry about."_

There's an explosion of more missiles hitting around them and then Optimus jerks with a grunt as he's hit, forcing him to transform back into his bipedal form. He rolls across the highway, Ari getting flung off to the side to land safely in the grass at the side of the road.

But Lina ends up at Optimus's feet.

Optimus stands, mask guard transforming over his face as he takes out his blade just in time for Galvatron to transform and tackle him.

"Lina!" Ari yells as her friend crawls frantically backwards on her hands and feet, away from the fight, until her back hits the side of an abandoned car. "Lina!"

Lina doesn't hear her, wide, horrified eyes trained on the grappling figures in front of her, so close she could end up crushed underneath them.

"Lina!" Ari tries again. "Lina, run for the field!"

Something must register because Lina gets to her feet, running for the cornfields on the other side of the road. Just then, Optimus gets flung off of Galvatron, narrowly missing Lina as he plunges his sword into the ground to slow his momentum.

Lina skids to her knees as she ducks, too afraid to move since she doesn't know where the bots next to her are going.

Optimus plunges his sword into the gaping hold of Galvatron's chassis, growling, "You have no soul."

Galvatron looks him dead in the optics, surprising them all by replying, "That is why I have no fear."

He can talk. He can fragging talk. Intelligently, and with independence, from the sounds of it. Not just some empty robot.

He pushes back against Optimus, sending them tumbling again and getting between Lina and the field. She gets up, running back towards the abandoned car in the middle of the road since there's nowhere else to go.

Lina sits on the road, leaning back against the car's bumper, and cries out, "Sunny!"

Ari grits her teeth, prepared to run to Lina's side, but then Optimus gets shoved in her way, Galvatron getting on top of him. They grapple for a few seconds, Optimus getting the upper hand enough to stand.

Only to get shot in the back by a massive missile.

Ari turns, gaping as a Cybertronian war ship hovers over the ground down the street, the mystery Cybertronian with the green optics casually walking towards them. Without missing a step, his head transforms into a massive cannon, firing another round at Optimus, sending him sprawling across the car Lina hides behind.

Galvatron transforms, speeding away in his semi from the fight, either called away or no longer interested.

Ari hides behind a turned over truck as the Cybertronian saunters past, staying out of sight and watching, waiting for the chance to get to Lina.

But Lina hides as well, getting inside the car where Ari can't get to her.

Her friend is in there, right in the line of fire, and she can't get to her without getting both of them spotted and killed. All she can do is hope Lina doesn't get spotted where she's hiding.

"I feel sorry for you, Prime," the Cybertronian says, kneeling down in front of Optimus like he's talking to a friend. "Your allegiance to these humans. The trouble with loyalty to a cause is that the cause will always betray you."

"Who sent you here?" Optimus grunts out, shoulder sparking where he was hit.

"Where do you think you came from?" He huffs, like he's exasperated at a small child. "You think you were born? No. You were built. And your creators want you back." He gets to his feet as a smaller ship ejects from the craft behind him. "We all work for someone."

What the frag is he talking about? What creators? Does he mean the AllSpark? Primus and Unicron? Or someone else?

The smaller ship launches a net at Optimus, falling on Lina in the car as well. All questions fly right out of Ari's head.

"No," she breathes, racing out into the street, no longer caring if she's seen. "Lina! Optimus!"

The ship raises into the air, raising the net with Optimus and Lina in it.

"Ari!" Lina shouts desperately through the car window, struggling to keep her balance as the nose of the car shifts in the net to point straight up. "Help!"

"Get out, Lina!" Ari runs onto the hood of a car, using it as a jumping off point to grab onto the net as it continues to rise. She hangs on by her fingers, dangling in the air.

"Ari!" Lina yells, kneeling at the trunk of the car right on the other side of Ari's fingers and banging on the glass.

"Break the glass, Lina!" Ari urges, using her chin to activate one of her blades. Lina slams her fist against the glass with all her might, Ari hitting at it with her blade as well. But Lina is not strong enough and Ari can't get good enough leverage, hanging from the netting by one hand.

Ari focus on the net itself instead, trying to saw through it, but then she loses her grip, falling to the ground and landing on her back with a grunt.

"Lina!" She struggles to her feet but she's already too late. The net is much too high for her to reach. "Optimus!"

Helplessly, she watches as two of her best friends get carried off into the belly of the ship, Optimus shouting after her, "Warn the Autobots, Ari!"

But warn them about what? Why did that Cybertronian want Optimus?

What is he going to do to them?

She promised to keep Lina safe. And she failed. That's all she's been able to do lately is fail.

Engines roar behind her but she doesn't move, staying on her knees as she stares despondently at the ship, just waiting for it to turn towards the sky. Waiting for it to leave the planet and take her friends away for good.

But it doesn't. It turns towards the city, heading back towards Chicago.

"What happened?" Will asks, kneeling on the road next to her. When she doesn't respond he shakes her shoulder, gently but firmly. "Ari, what happened? Where's Optimus?"

"Where's Lina?" Sunstreaker asks, a tight edge to his voice. "Come on, where are they?"

"On the ship," she answers, so quiet it's barely a whisper. "He took them."

Something crashes behind her, Sunstreaker yelling out in rage. She winces. She knows how he feels, a gnawing hole inside her chest.

How could they let this happen?

"Man, who is this cracker jack?" Rob grits out, frustrated. "Just comes out of nowhere and starts kidnapping people."

"Do you know who he is, Bucky?" Natasha asks.

"No," Bucky replies gruffly. "He just showed up one day. They never told me who he is or what he wants."

"Who cares?" Sunstreaker explodes, something else crashing. "We need to go after them!"

A door in Ari's mind cracks open, washing her in a knowledge that has been denied her since this whole thing started.

Until now.

She sways slightly, Will steadying her with the hand still on her shoulder. "Kiddo, you alright?'

"Lockdown," she murmurs.

"What?"

"His name is Lockdown. He stayed out of the war, hidden, until the day his masters needed him."

Sideswipe kneels at her other side, brushing the backs of his metal fingers along her arm. "Who? Who are his masters?"

She takes in a shuttering breath, leaning closer at the contact. "I…I don't…." Her eyes squint, like if she just stares hard enough the knowledge will come into focus. It's there, just out of reach, but she's not allowed to see everything. "He…he came from Cybertron. That's where his journey started."

"Before the war broke out?"

"No. After." A cold, sickly shiver runs down her spine. "There's something still there. Alive. Waiting. That's who's giving him orders."

"But the planet is dead," Ratchet protests. "Nothing could survive there."

"None of this fragging matters!" Sunstreaker bellows out, wheeling out to loom over her. His faceplates are angry but there is a deep pain rooted in his optics. "We need to get Lina back."

"And Optimus," Ironhide reminds him coolly.

"Yeah, but…but I…," his hands clench at his sides, shaking as much as his voice, "I need her."

Another door cracks open, wider than the first. A part of the AllSpark she hasn't visited since her wedding day. Ari tilts her head, staring up at Sunstreaker curiously.

It can't possibly be….

"Kneel down for me, Sunny," she bids him, getting to her feet.

"Why?" he asks warily, like a kid at the doctor's office.

"Just…there's something I need to check."

He hesitates before getting down, allowing Ari to press her hands to his chassis. Right over his spark.

"Hold still."

Her bond mark begins to glow, arms sparking as the AllSpark power feeds into Sunstreaker's chassis. A sharp gasp escapes her and she closes her eyes at the intense warmth flowing over her as she looks into his spark. It's like pure energy, a roiling sun that crackles with power and life and emotion.

A trail threads out of it, leading towards Sideswipe, a spark she knows well. Their sibling bond, a bond anyone would expect to find.

But there's another trail, one that peters out into the darkness, not yet fully formed. But it wants to be.

And it reaches out for Lina.

Ari pulls back, eyes blinking open, allowing her tears to escape down her cheeks. "Oh, Sunny," she sighs, breath hitching in her chest. He's had his suspicions. She could feel it in his spark. How long has he been sitting on this? Since the day he met her? Or did he not realize until later?

"I…." His optics fill with liquid, his own tears trickling down his faceplates. He looks so lost. But also so hopeful. "Is it her? Are we…?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you are. You and Lina are sparkmates."

Ratchet looks about ready to fall over. "But that can't be! You, little one, I understand. But Lina..."

"I don't understand it all yet either," Ari says, wiping her hand tiredly across her face before taking in a steadying breath. "But I'm going to."

However, she won't get the chance if they don't save her.

She looks up at the ship again, gauging its distance and speed. "Tony, Sam, Thor, I want you to go after them and find a way onto that ship. Stay hidden, though. Don't engage until we get there."

"On it," Tony says, the faceplate of the Iron Man suit snapping down as he takes to the air, Sam following him with a flap of his wings and Thor with a swing of his hammer.

"We going after them?" Steve asks, though it's not really a question based on the cool determination in his blue eyes.

"Of course. Since they didn't leave the planet right away, I'm guessing Lockdown still has some business left to take care of in Chicago. It should give us enough time to sneak onboard, find Optimus and Lina, and get back out."

"Should?" Rob asks nervously. "What if they decide to leave before we're off?"

"I'm working on it." She turns to Jane and Darcy, giving them an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but you can't come with us. It's too dangerous."

Darcy opens her mouth for a loud protest, only stopped by Jane's hand on her shoulder. "We understand," Jane says, giving her friend a pointed look. "We'll only get in the way, Darce. They need to be fast and can't waste time worrying about us."

Darcy huffs but nods. "Fine. Just promise me you're all going to make it out in one piece."

Realistically, it's a promise they can't necessarily keep. Who knows what they're going to find up there. But Ari replies anyway, "We will."

Primus, please don't make a liar out of her.

"Phil, Jazz, will you go with them?"

Phil nods, already stepping forward to usher the two of them towards Jazz's alt mode. "We'll keep them safe. When you have Lina and Optimus, let us know and we'll send you coordinates for a rendezvous."

The rest of them then pile into the remaining alt modes, racing after the ship, praying that they aren't too late. They still have Hydra to worry about, and the Transformers.

But there's no way they're leaving Optimus and Lina behind.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Right, let's get through this before the mob starts, 'kay?_

 _Clint and Phil are here! They took the place of Maria Hill coming in to save Steve, Sam, and Nat when they got arrested in Winter Soldier. No, Hill isn't going to be making an appearance. Since Phil is still alive and here in my universe, he's sort of taking her place. It would be hard to think of an excuse to bring her in now. I had a hard enough time with Sam._

 _And Lockdown has reappeared to capture Optimus (of course) and Lina (to take the place of Tessa). Who all thought Ari would get kidnapped in Tessa's place? Sorry, but I have a sick pleasure of twisting the knife._

 _Lina is Sunstreaker's sparkmate. It is confirmed. They don't just have feelings for each other. They're sparkmates. And Lina doesn't have the excuse of being the AllSpark. Don't worry, guys, I've got plans for this. But that doesn't mean it's going to be an easy road._

 _And I had that reveal after she gets kidnapped. XD_

 _Like I said, I enjoy this way too much._

 _Next chapter will be on August 17. We'll have some rescuing (you're welcome), some mysteries, and maybe a few revelations (idk if that'll make it into the next chapter...I really need to figure out where all my chapters are...)_

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	9. Facing the Truth

_**Author's Note**_

 _Sorry it's so late in the day. Life has gotten chaotic again, but I still managed to get this up on the promised day. Even if there aren't that many hours in this day left. Hopefully that won't matter soon, because I'm almost done writing this fic. I'm so close to the ending I can taste it. After that, and some final editing, I'll update more frequently until completion. Then I will take a break in order to work on some other stuff I've been wanting to do and to get my plot outlined for the next Move Along fic._

 _Anyway, this chapter! I took some liberties with it when it comes to the Age of Extinction and Last Knight movies. In the movies, Optimus and the Autobots seemed to know who the knights were. Which, honestly, makes no sense to me when it comes to Cybertronian history and how much they actually know of it. In the Rise of the Fallen movie, the Autobots had no idea about the Fallen and the original Primes (which I changed in my Move Along fic because the Primes are part of their creation story and I would think they would know that). For them to know about the Knights but not the Fallen and the Primes...it makes no sense! The knights were around during the time of the dinosaurs, while the Fallen and the Primes weren't downed until Egypt was in its glory days with the pyramids. Considering their lifespans, to know something far older but not know the younger just doesn't seem logical to me. So I changed things._

 _Which allows me to be all mysterious with how Last Knight will tie in. :)_

 _Hopefully you guys like the changes I make. Which really feel like fixes to me. The Transformer movies are not big on consistency and looking at the bigger picture. Just look at the Bumblebee movie coming out this year. In the Last Knight, they showed an adult Bumblebee fighting in WWII. In the new movie, Bumblebee looks like he's in his teenage years and it's, what, the eighties?_

 _Anyway, I'm ranting._

 _How about you just go onward and enjoy?_

* * *

 _ **Facing the Truth**_

They catch up to the ship just as it finds an area clear enough to land, over near Lake Michigan. A helicopter flies into the ship's hanger—human, not Cybertronian—making Ari's eyes narrow.

Who is Lockdown meeting? And what for? It couldn't be just for a simple talk. They wouldn't need to meet in person for that. That leaves a hand-off.

But who is giving who what? And how bad is this going to be for the rest of them?

Whatever it is, it doesn't take long. The helicopter takes off just a few minutes later, the ship's engines powering up again just as the Autobots screech to a stop next to it.

Ari and the others exit the alt modes, the Autobots transforming around them. Sirens and screams fill the air, but all Ari cares about is the roar of those engines. They have precious little time.

They scramble aboard as it begins to rise in the air, heading towards the top of the ship. They find a gab in the hull big enough for the Autobots to fit through, scrambling down the slope of some sort of pillar into the belly of the ship.

This ship is not designed for human passengers. Or passengers who need any kind of life support at all. Gaps all over the place let in light from the setting sun, casting shadows every which way along all the dark metal.

"What's that noise?" Clint asks warily. Growls and howls belonging to strange creatures Ari can't even imagine bounce off the walls of the cavernous space, making Clint clutch his rifle tightly. He must be missing his usual gear, especially his bow.

Though, would a bow really help right now? Who knows what they're going to find in here.

"Let's just focus on finding Lina and Optimus," Ari hedges, raising a finger to her ear comm. "Tony, Sam, Thor? Any luck?"

::This place is massive,:: Sam replies. ::Seriously, it's like a small city in here.::

::Yeah, this isn't going to be fast,:: Stark adds, frustration coloring his voice. ::What is this place though? There are these…things, in cages. Really, really weird things that I don't really want to know the names of.::

"I don't think this used to be a prison," Ratchet murmurs thoughtfully, looking up and down the corridor. There are slots in some of the walls obstructed by bars that could definitely be prison cells. "It does look like it was retrofitted to be, but this place is old. Very old."

"Older than you?" Ari asks curiously. Besides Jetfire and maybe Wheeljack, Ratchet is the oldest bot she knows.

He nods. "I have no memory of a ship like this ever being built. It must be long before our time."

"That's fascinating and all," Sunstreaker growls, "but let's save the mystery for later."

::We shall split up,:: Thor offers, ::and let you know if we find either of them.::

"Alright," Ari sighs, looking up and down the corridor. Where do they even start? "We'll do the same. Look out for any traps."

::Come on, squirt,:: Stark says, full of smug confidence. ::You know me.::

"Exactly. That's why I worry."

A strange whirling builds in the air before he can reply, one that makes Ari's stomach twist.

"Okay, now what is _that_?" Clint says again.

"That would be the dark matter drive," Ironhide answers, arm transforming into a blaster. "The ship is preparing to warp into space."

Well, that's not good. Ari taps her fingers against her thigh, thinking quickly. "Right. New plan. Tony, I want you to meet up with Ironhide, John, Evie, and Natasha. Find a way to sabotage the dark matter drive. Do not let us leave Earth."

::You mean I get to explode something on purpose?::

Natasha rolls her eyes. "Not if we don't have to. We are still on this ship. Save the destruction until we leave."

Ironhide shrugs his shoulders, leading John, Evie, and Natasha down the corridor in the direction of the whirling. "Sabotage without blowing up. Can't be that hard."

"At least Wheeljack isn't here," Evie says helpfully. "It'd be impossible for him."

"Ratchet," Ari says next. "I want you to take Will, Rob, Bruce, Steve, and Bucky, meet up with Thor, and try to find Optimus. He's got to be in one of these cells somewhere, possibly hurt."

Rob snorts with a twisted grimace. "He's probably in whatever this place calls maximum security."

"That's why you get all the brawn. Bust down doors if you have to, but still try to stay out of sight. I'd rather get off this ship without Lockdown ever finding out we were here."

"That would be nice," Bruce sighs. "I'd rather not Hulk out, if you don't mind."

Bucky claps him on the shoulder. "We'll try not to let it come to that, doc. Come on. Let's get going."

After they walk off in the opposite direction of the others, Ari turns to the rest of the group, consisting of Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Clint, and Loki. "And the rest of us get to go after Lina. Hopefully Lockdown didn't notice she got taken along for the ride and is roaming around somewhere."

They wonder around the different cells, peeking inside every so often just in case Lina was discovered when she got aboard. All the prisoners are aliens, several different species from all over the galaxy, according to the AllSpark.

Why would Lockdown be collecting all of these aliens? Is he some kind of collector? Although, he did say that the "creators" wanted their creations back.

If that was the case, then why did he leave Earth before taking all the Decepticons as well? That would have been nice.

A heavy thump echoes from somewhere, the ship coming to a jerking halt.

"Tony?" Ari says with a warning edge.

::I didn't blow anything up, I swear,:: he answers hastily. ::Although I may have, possibly, pulled something out at random.::

::He caused the ship to deploy its anchors,:: Ironhide clarifies. ::It's now moored to a skyscraper. We won't be going anywhere until they can get them detached.::

"That's nice," Loki drawls, "but it'll draw attention."

"So much for staying low," Ari mutters, picking up the pace through this labyrinth. "Ironhide, I want you guys to meet up with the others and help find Optimus. We need to hurry."

But Loki's right. They don't make it very far before voices drift down the hallway towards them, followed by growling.

"Other way, other way!" Ari hisses, pushing Clint and Loki down a different corridor. They move silently, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker right behind them covering the rear. They stop in the shadows when the voices get right on top of them and they hold their breaths.

"Alright," Sideswipe says after a moment, shoulders slumping in relief, "they're moving on."

"What is this?" Loki asks, voice tinged with a strange awe as he continues further down the hallway.

It empties into a crossroads, several different hallways converging on this one area laid out in a circle. In the center is a pedestal, filled with swords. Large swords, reminding Ari of the one Optimus uses.

Around the outside, in between the branching corridors, stands six Cybertronians. No, she realizes upon closer inspection. Not actual Cybertronians. More like statues. Metal statues of Cybertronians that are long since dead, each holding a sword of their own.

Like knights, guarding the round table.

She turns back to the pedestal, oddly drawn towards it, and hops on top. It's ringed with swords—each plunged into the metal base like Excalibur embedded into the stone—with a larger sword standing in the middle slightly slanted.

Something tells her to reach out to it, some voice calling from a distant memory. A memory she didn't know she had. It somehow sounds like her great grandfather, even though she never met the great Archibald Witwicky. But the same familial attachment, the same familiarity, beats in her chest with the instinct to trust it.

Sideswipe steps towards her cautiously. "Are you sure you should be doing-"

Ari touches the sword, shoving it to stand completely straight with a large _clunk_ as something is set into motion.

"…that."

The walls behind the statues begin to fold away, the statues themselves folding down as well, to reveal dozens of weapons on display.

Swords. Swords that have not been wielded by Cybertronian hands in a long time. She doesn't know how she knows that, she just does.

"It's some sort of weapon's vault," Clint mutters, inspecting the different blades with an appreciative eye.

"But for who?" Loki asks. "Lockdown obviously does not use this space. Who did all this belong to before him?"

"How did you know to do that?" Sideswipe asks, looking at Ari with a mixture of curiosity and worry. It's a common expression whenever the AllSpark gets her to do stuff.

The thing is, it wasn't the AllSpark this time.

"I…I don't know," she stammers, staring down at her hands as if they aren't her own. That...that instinct to touch the sword, it didn't come from one of the doors. It felt like it came from inside herself. Inside her own mind. A memory buried deep down in a place long forgotten.

But she's never seen a sword like that, has never known anyone who would have known what to do. So who was that voice? Where did that memory come from?

How _did_ she know what to do?

Voices echo down one of the corridors again, real ones this time, steadily getting closer.

"We'll worry about that later," Ari deflects, stalking over to one of the racks of weapons and pointing at a sword near the middle above her head. "Sides, grab me that. It may come in handy."

Sideswipe plucks the sword off the wall, about the size of a knife in his hands but the perfect sword size for Ari. She grips the hilt tightly with both hands, the weight and length of the blade similar to a broadsword.

She grins. Yeah. She can do some damage with this.

Clint's hands clutch at his rifle tightly, spasming, just itching for his usual bow and quiver. She tilts her head up towards the remaining weapons. "You guys want one?"

Clint snorts. "Just because my bow is considered medieval, that doesn't mean I want to swing a sword around. You should grab one for Thor though. He might get a kick out of it."

"I do not think so," Loki chuckles. With a flick of his wrists, he materializes a knife in each hand with his magic, smirking confidently. "He is rather fond of his hammer."

Something mechanical whirls down a hallway and they scramble to find cover, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker tucking themselves into the shadows of a different corridor. Ari presses herself against the wall, arms shaking from the effort of holding the sword up, waiting.

Her arms falter, falling slightly, and she grits her teeth.

Okay, this thing isn't as easy to use as she thought it'd be.

That same feeling from before overtakes her, a half-forgotten memory telling her what to do. She moves the sword around in her arms—the blade goes in her left hand, hilt of the sword up against her shoulder, one cross-guard held in her right hand with the other sticking straight up. Her fingers feel for something in the cross-guard, like muscle memory, not even jumping when the sword suddenly transforms with the blade splitting down the middle.

Into a gun.

"What the frag?" Clint breathes out before Loki shushes him.

Some kind of round bot rolls into the room, no bigger than a dog, like some oversized basketball. It comes to a stop just inside, a red light shining out of it to scan the room, looking for trespassers.

Ari shoots it before it can spot her, the sword going off like a Cybertronian blaster to shoot up the bot and explode it in a shower of sparks.

Two Pretenders charge into the room, shouting angrily in Cybertronian that she doesn't bother to interpret. She shoots one square in the chassis, Loki coming out of the shadows behind the other and using his knife to sever the energon tubes in his neck. Both go down like sacks of junkyard parts.

"Ari?" Sideswipe calls out, rolling towards her hesitantly. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she says breathlessly, looking down at the sword-gun in her hands.

How the frag did she know how to do that?

"Ari, you're kinda freaking me out here."

Her finger finds that spot on the cross-guard again, transforming the gun back into a sword. "You're not the only one."

::Guys, I've got Lina!:: Sam suddenly shouts over the comms. ::I've got Lina! Transmitting our coordinates now.::

"Is she okay?" Sunstreaker asks, skating down a corridor at top speed towards the coordinates. They might not even be the ones closest to them but, apparently, Sunny doesn't care. They're going now and he's waiting for no one.

Ari swears under her breath, grabbing a length of tattered cloth lying in a corner and chasing after him, the others right behind her.

::She's got a few bumps and bruises, but other than that, yeah. She's fine.::

"We're on our way, Sam," Ari says, using the cloth to fashion a strap so she can sling the gun across her shoulders on her back. "Meet us halfway?"

::If I told you no, I'd be risking my health,:: Sam chuckles. ::Lina's already told me where we're going. Loudly.::

The comm picks up Lina's muffled reply. ::You better watch it, birdbrain,:: she threatens, ::or else I'm going to ask Sunny to squash you like a mosquito.::

Yeah, Lina sounds fine.

They make it to the end of the corridor of cells, the hallway opening up into a wide-open area where the floor just stops at a balcony. Down below, even bigger cells hold even bigger prisoners, but the only prisoner they care about is the one being carried to them in Sam's arms.

Sam drops to the ground a couple yards away, wings folding back into the pack as he lowers Lina to her feet who then takes off running. There's a desperation to her feet as they propel her forward, like they can't move fast enough. It's never fast enough. Not until she's in Sunstreaker's arms.

He holds her as tight as he dares without breaking her, Lina holding on just as tightly with her arms wrapped around his neck. They stay like that for a few moments, just soaking each other in, reassuring each other that they're together again and they're safe.

Ari remembers that feeling. She knows that feeling well. It's not something she ever wanted Lina to experience, but maybe it's just the nudge they need.

"Lina…," Sunstreaker chokes out, but Lina doesn't give him the chance. She pulls back just far enough to cover his lips with hers. He stands stunned for all of two seconds before happily getting on board, cupping the back of Lina's head with his hand.

Looks like they're both done ignoring what's right in front of them.

Lina pulls back, panting, body wound tight and overwhelmed with wide-eyes staring up at Sunstreaker. She touches her fingertips to her lips, murmuring, "Sunny, was that…are we…?"

He nods shakily. "Yeah, Lina, we are. I don't know how, but we're sparkmates. Just like Ari and Sides. You were feeling me along the potential bond."

Lina takes in a shuddering breath, letting it out slowly. "Oh, boy."

"As disgustingly touching as this all is," Loki drawls, breaking them out of their staring contest, "we really must be going."

"Right," Lina agrees breathlessly, like she's on autopilot. "Yeah. We'll deal with that bombshell later, after my head stops fritzing out and we're off this flying deathtrap. Where's everyone else?"

"Looking for Optimus," Ari says, leading the way towards the center of the ship. "Hopefully they find him soon and we can get out of here. Before Lockdown finds any of us."

"That the Cybertronian dude? Lockdown?"

"Yep, and we have no idea what he's up to."

"I might," Lina says, still perched in Sunstreaker's arms as they sneak down the halls and making no effort to make him put her down. Yeah, Ari knows that feeling, too.

"What do you mean?" Clint asks.

"I saw a helicopter come in before the ship took off again. Galloway was in it and met with the Lockdown guy. They said Lockdown was only working with Hydra so that he could get to Optimus. That's what he wanted. If Hydra helped Lockdown get Optimus, then they'd get this weird metal thing."

"What weird metal thing?"

"How the frag am I supposed to know what it is? I just know they called it a seed."

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both stop in their tracks, staring at Lina in horror. "The seed?" Sunstreaker repeats. "That's what they said?"

Lina nods slowly, all of them getting the sense that something has seriously gone wrong. Again. "Yeah. That's what they said."

"You're _sure_?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Lina snaps, throwing up her hands. "You mind telling us what frag a metal seed does?"

Sideswipe's mouth presses into a thin line. "It turns organic matter into Cybertronian metal."

Ari's blood runs cold. " _All_ organic matter?"

"Yeah. Plants, animals. People. And its blast radius is huge."

"That sounds an awful lot like a bomb," Loki points out warily.

"Essentially, it is. It's also not supposed to be used on inhabited planets because it's so destructive. Hydra doesn't know what they're messing with."

A puzzle piece clicks into place. "They want to use the seed," Ari realizes, stomach turning sour. "Hydra wants to use the seed. To make more Cybertronian metal. They called it Transformium, remember? They said they needed more in order to make more Transformers."

"So that's why they were working together?" Clint asks. "Lockdown wanted Optimus and Hydra wanted the seed?"

"Looks like. Although, I get the feeling this seed is going to turn out like the sun harvester."

Massive destruction and death on a global scale.

::I have found him!:: Thor declares proudly over the comms. ::I have found Optimus. He is being held in a cell near the back of the ship.::

Ari presses her finger to her ear comm, taking off into a run towards the back of the ship. Sneaking is no longer an option. Not with a clock ticking down in the back of her head. "Alright, awesome. Everyone regroup on Thor. We need to get out of here ASAP."

They run into resistance, of course, and when they do Sides and Sunny take the lead with their blades, forging a path for the rest of them to follow. It's mostly Pretenders and the little round bots, no real heavy-hitters, and no sign of Lockdown.

But it's only a matter of time.

They reach the cellblock where Optimus is being kept right behind Ironhide and the others, all of them filing into the small, circular room filled with large cells. Thor bangs at one with his hammer, popping off the hinges with ease.

"Could you not find the controls?" Loki asks with a long sigh. "Really, brother, brute force isn't always the answer."

"Maybe not, but it works," Thor replies with a self-satisfied smile, the doors opening with a hiss, "and my way works faster."

"Enough, boys," Ari interrupts before the typical squabble can begin, stepping between them to get to the cell. Optimus hangs upside down in the small cell, the walls lined with spikes to keep him from moving from his precarious position. "How you doing, big guy?"

"I'd be better once everything is right side up again," he grunts, holding his arms carefully away from the spikes. "Ironhide, this part of the ship is its own detachable craft. Take us out of here."

"On it," Ironhide nods, glancing around before making a beeline for a chair in what must be the ship's cockpit. He flicks a couple switches, powering it to life.

"Try to stay still," Sideswipe tells Optimus, engaging one of his blades. "Sunny, give me a hand."

Together, Sides and Sunny get Optimus out of the cell, Sides taking out the clamp holding Optimus up with Sunny grabbing hold of Optimus's legs to control his descent out the door and away from the spikes.

Optimus rolls to his feet just as Ironhide detaches them from the rest of the ship, flying into the air and away as quickly as possible. They all stand in silence, just waiting for the ship to shake, for a blast to hit them as they're found escaping, but nothing happens. A couple tense moments later, Ironhide calls out an all-clear.

"They didn't notice us leaving," he says, barking out a giddy laugh. "They just made an interstellar launch. Lockdown is miles from Earth now."

"Well, thank frag for that," Evie plops down on the floor with a heavy sigh, leaning back on her hands with her legs spread out. "Now what do we do?"

They all look exhausted, dirt and sweat sticking to days old clothes. Even Tony looks haggard once he steps out of the Ironman suit. But this fight is far from done and there's too much to do still to allow them rest now.

"We need to get the Seed back," Ari says, throwing more energy into her voice than what she truly feels. "We need to stop Hydra before they can use it and make more Transformers."

"They've gotta be building an army," Bucky pitches in. "One big enough to put the rest of the world under their thumb. Once they get those Transformers, it's all over. They'll launch an attack to take out anyone in their way."

"I believe it is more complicated than that," Optimus says, staring at Ari with such foreboding that she feels the need to plop right down next to Evie. Instead, she reaches out for Sideswipe, pressing herself against the side of his leg.

"What is it?"

"When I fought that Transformer, Galvatron…when I looked into his optics, I did not see the emptiness of a machine. I sensed Megatron in him."

Ice cold water douses Ari's spine, making her knees go weak with dread. "But-but how? He's dead! Sideswipe and I offlined him! Sure, Galvatron kind of looks like him, but…but it can't be."

"I know. But his presence was unmistakable."

"Can you check?" Ratchet asks curiously. "You have a direct connection to the Well of Sparks because you absorbed the Matrix. Can you see if his spark resides there as it should be?"

Ari nods hesitantly, knowing she can do it, but afraid of what she'll find. She closes her eyes anyway, allowing herself to get pulled into the hall of doors. It's easy, effortless, like the AllSpark was just waiting for her to look.

She can feel the heat of the door before she actually reaches it. The door to the Well of Sparks is massive, much larger than any of the other doors, and the power barely contained inside seeps through the cracks to soak into her skin. With a simple touch to the handle, it bursts open, like water breaking free from the dam at the smallest pressure.

It pulls her in, surrounding her in a sea of life. A sea of sparks, of souls.

There are so many of them, more than could ever be counted. Some she recognizes, Decepticons she's seen fall in battle, or Autobots she's seen in dreams of Cybertron. Jetfire's spark comes up to her in greeting, light and happy, and she caresses her hand against him in hello as she passes.

She looks all around the Well, in every nook and cranny. But there is no sign of Megatron.

Suddenly, she's yanked out of the Well, finding herself floating outside a city. It's like the vision she had of Shanghai just before everything leading to Egypt started. She's there, yet not there, an observing specter. Familiar skyscrapers stand in the distance, and she recognizes the city as Chicago.

Galvatron slinks on the outskirts, humans surrounding him in order to prepare him for transport. Hydra's taking him somewhere. But he's only _allowing_ himself to be taken.

Red optics gleam above a pointed, toothy grin.

It leaves no doubt in Ari's mind. This Transformer is no empty shell, despite what the gaping hole where his spark chamber should be would suggest. It was all a ruse. A persona. To trick them and Hydra both.

So he could have a new body, and a new army to command.

Ari lets out a gasp as she's pulled back to consciousness, thankfully already finding herself in Sideswipe's arms, because she doesn't think she can stand right now.

"It's true," she breathes, shaking as she presses herself to Sideswipe's chassis, "Megatron never offlined. Galvatron _is_ Megatron."

"How?" Sideswipe growls, drawing her closer protectively. "We offlined him. You cut through his main energon tube and his optics went dead."

"Either he was faking it or he wasn't quite dead enough." Angry tears prick at the backs of her eyes and she bangs her head against Sideswipe's chassis, ignoring the pain as the clang echoes in her ears. "How could I be so _stupid_?"

She bangs her head again and again before Sideswipe stops her with a hand cupping her face. "Hey, hey, don't do that."

"But I deserve it," she bites out bitterly, trying to pull away but he won't let her. The tears spill over even though she tries hard not to let them, and that just makes her even angrier. "All of this is my fault! I was so busy looking for Unicron and Primus, that I missed the threat right here! I could have known ages ago, before any of this ever started. I felt the AllSpark all ready and waiting to show me, but I just never _looked_."

"Honey, you can't blame yourself for that," Will consoles softly. "If the AllSpark really wanted you to know sooner, it would have forced you to look, right? There must have been a reason it didn't."

"Yeah, because it was some test Primus set up, one I epically failed." She tries to pull away from Sideswipe again, but still he won't let her go. Red-rimmed eyes glare up at him. "Let me down, Sides."

Concern and confusion flicker across the bond, and in his optics. "Ari, I-"

"Now, Sides!" Her tongue lashes out, sharper than intended, and she reigns the anger in. Anger that has nothing to do with him. This is all on her. She tries again, softly, "Please. Let me down."

He obviously doesn't want to but he does it anyway, setting her back on her feet. She sends him her gratitude along the bond and then pulls back, both through the bond and away from everyone else, finding a little corner of the ship where she can be alone.

Honestly, why did Primus make her the AllSpark at all if she can't do anything right?

* * *

Ari sequesters herself in between two machines twice her size, staring into nothing. She has no idea what they do, just knows that this ship is cold and these machines give off a good deal of heat. Guess Cybertronians don't bother with heating or cooling systems for their crafts since the heat and cold don't bother them. But, so long as nothing blows up from her leaning on it, she's as comfortable as she can be sitting on the floor.

Where they're heading right now, she has no clue. She felt them land earlier—presumably to pick up Jazz, Phil, Jane, and Darcy—and then they took off again.

Are they going after Hydra? Galvatron? Or Megatron, as she should get used to calling him. That still grinds at her, that Megatron is still alive. She thought they were finally rid of him. Things were relatively peaceful on the Decepticon front. They were even, perhaps, nearing an end to the Cybertronian War.

What a fool she's been.

Why did she ever think she could do this? Why did she ever think she could handle a power like this—be responsible for it? If someone else had been given the AllSpark, they would have caught everything. They would have been able to stop Hydra and Galvatron and rescue Bucky a long time ago.

Why did Primus ever choose her for this? What was he thinking, because he obviously chose wrong.

"How long you plan on pouting over here?" someone asks. She expected Sideswipe or maybe Will to come after her, but when she looks up it's Bucky towering over her. With his arms crossed in front of his chest, he looks like her high school coach, waiting for her to get up already and run the mile.

Well, she did that already. And she failed spectacularly.

"What, you saying I'm not allowed to pout?" she asks, drawing her legs closer to her chest and dropping her gaze to her bent knees.

"Never said that." He gets down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall across from her with his legs spread out. It's a narrow space, leaving the bottoms of his feet just inches from her toes. "It's just not really a good time for it, that's all. The team needs you."

"No, they don't."

"Sure they do. You're the one who got us this far."

"A lot of that was Steve and Optimus and Loki and everyone else. You'll get through the rest of this just fine without me mucking everything up."

"No, doll. You're the one we need. Darcy explained all the AllSpark stuff to me. Pretty sure we don't stand a chance without you."

A part of her fumes at Darcy for explaining that secret without her approval, but only for a second. Really, after what she did and how she left, it's probably better that someone explained it to him. And it's not like she wanted to keep it from him. So instead, she says, "If you know about the AllSpark, then you know how royally I messed up."

He folds his legs together so he can shift closer to her, but she still doesn't look up. "Not seeing the bigger picture sooner isn't a mistake. All your S.H.I.E.L.D. buddies aren't sulking in corners because they didn't see Hydra coming."

"But I should have," she growls in frustration, finally glancing up to level him with a glare. "I should have seen it coming. With the AllSpark, the answers were right there in front of me. Megatron, too. I just failed to actually use it."

"Nothing ever gave you reason to believe things were anything other than fine." He reaches out slowly, gently placing his flesh hand on her forearm. "If you really needed to know, the AllSpark would have showed you, right? There must be a reason it didn't."

"Yeah," she snorts, yanking her arm back, "I was getting tested. Again. I was supposed to put the pieces together, I was supposed to see this coming and do something long before things got this bad."

But she was too busy worried about a problem that's not even here yet, while this one has been festering all this time just beneath the surface.

"You ever think maybe things were supposed to happen this way?'

She arches her brow at him, looking pointedly down at his metal arm. "You really think that?"

"I don't know." He stares down at his metal hand, watching the plates shift as he moves his fingers. "I mean, what would have happened if this hadn't happened to me, huh? Steve still would have had to crash that plane in the Arctic in order to stop Hydra all those years ago."

"But you would have been able to live out your life like you were supposed to. A long, happy life without all the pain you've endured."

"No pain and brainwashing would have been nice," he agrees, ice blue eyes pinning hers in place. "I killed a lot of people that might be alive today, too. But, knowing Hydra, they would have found some other way to take them out. They would have died either way. So that really leaves only one very important thing."

"What?' she whispers.

"I would have been without my best friend, and I would have left Stevie all alone in this century. That's something I would have regretted for the rest of my life."

Ari lets go of her arms, crossing her legs to lean towards him curiously. "What, so you think things happened like they did so you'd be here for Steve?"

"I don't know." He shrugs helplessly with a little half-smile. "Maybe. Not really sure I believe in fate or destiny or whatever, but this Primus of yours seems to know what he's doing. He picked you for the AllSpark for a reason and the AllSpark didn't show you everything from the start for a reason."

"But the doors are locked when I'm not allowed to see something yet," she points out. "These doors have been unlocked, waiting for me. Like I could have looked sooner."

"Maybe there wasn't a point in locking them because he knew you wouldn't look."

"But how do you know that?'

"I don't. And you probably won't ever find out either. But the AllSpark is still yours and we still need you if we're going to win this thing."

She chews her bottom lip between her teeth, twisting her fingers together in her lap. "But what if I really did mess up? And what if I mess up again?"

He looks down, silence stretching between them for so long that she starts to think he's not going to answer, that there _is_ no answer. But then he lifts his gaze again. "You know, I've been remembering a lot of things from before lately. Before the War. Like my sister, Rachael, and my Ma."

"That's great," she replies, unsure if this is a complete subject change or what, but happy for him all the same. "I'm glad some of the happier moments are coming back to you."

"Well, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows," he chuckles, eyes dancing with mirth as the memories play out in front of him. "I got into a lot of trouble when I was a kid. Got into a lot of scrapes. A big chunk of that was because of Stevie, because he'd jump right into a fight if it meant protecting someone, no matter how much bigger the other guy was. And then I'd have to jump in after him before he got seriously hurt."

Ari lets out a chuckle, just imaging a Steve a quarter of his current size, trying to stand up to someone ten times taller than him. Bucky joins in and Ari grins because it's the first full laugh she's heard from him since he woke up and it's a _good_ sound.

"But anyway," he continues, wiping at his jaw in embarrassment, "some of those fights were because of me as well, doing something stupid. Ma would always get such a disappointed look on her face. I swear, Steve learned that same look from her, and it always makes me feel like crap, like I've torn up her favorite dress to ribbons and tied my sister up with it."

Ari's nose wrinkles up, easily picturing the same look on Steve's face, when he caught her, Sides, and Sunny trying to prank Tony again. "I know what you mean."

"It ain't fun, is it? But my Ma'd forgive me, just like she always did, and you know what she'd say?'

"What?" she asks, the answer feeling very important all of a sudden.

"The same thing she told me when I fell off my bike." He rises to his feet, holding out a hand to her. "What do you do when you fall?'

She looks up at him for a moment, letting his words sink in. Yes, she messed up. Bad. It's gotten people hurt—and worse—but there's nothing she can do to make it better. She can't undo it, any more than Bucky could undo falling off his bike. All he could do was live with the scrapes and try not to fall next time.

All she can do is keep fighting. Because there's no one else _to_ fight. It's just them.

There's no one else to be the AllSpark. They're stuck with her, and she's going to try her hardest to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. That she doesn't slip so far ever again.

A small smile creeps on her face as she slowly slips her hand into Bucky's.

"You get back up and move along."

* * *

 __ _ **Author's Note**_

 _I'm rather fond of that last scene with Ari and Bucky. It just...sits right in my chest and makes me feel all fuzzy._

 _Anyway, we've got Lina back all safe and sound. She knows about the sparkmate situation, but that's a can of worms that's going to have to wait until they're, you know, not fighting for their lives._

 _They know about Megatron being Galvatron. And Ari's all blaming herself. But she's starting to ask the right questions._

 _How'd you like the mysteriousness with the swords? That instinct didn't come from the AllSpark. That was all Ari. And it'll be coming up again as we head into Last Knight._

 _That movie gave me so many plot bunnies. Seriously._

 _Next chapter will be posted August 31. We're getting closer and closer to the final battle. You ready for it?_

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	10. Can't Kill You If You're Dead

_**Author's Note**_

 _And I'm back!_

 _Today is a special day. You don't understand it yet, but you will. :)_

 _This chapter has the return of someone we haven't seen for a while. If you've seen Winter Soldier, I'm sure you know just based on that chapter title. But if you haven't, well...you're in for a treat. ;)_

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Can't Kill You If You're Dead**_

Ari feels like shuffling her feet like a little kid when they rejoin the others. She...was a brat. Especially to Sideswipe. They were just trying to help and she snapped when she shouldn't have. It was uncalled for.

She expects them to be mad at her, or at least peeved, but her dad just gives her a big hug and Sideswipe gently caresses her along their bond along the edges of her guilt.

"Sorry I overreacted like that," she mumbles, snuggling into Will's embrace but addressing everyone. "I...I shouldn't have yelled like that."

"It's okay, sweetspark," Sideswipe says, picking her up when Will let's her go. He tucks a finger under her chin, lifting her face up when she's reluctant to meet his optics. There's no anger there, just a soft forgiveness she doesn't feel she deserves. "It's okay. I know you're just scared. We all are."

"That doesn't make what I did right. I shouldn't have taken it out on all of you. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to forgive, Ari," Steve says, filled to bursting with sincerity like only Captain America can. "It's...what's going on is bad. But we can still stop it. If we work together."

"Right," she nods, taking a deep, centering breath before releasing it slowly. "So do we have a plan?"

"Not yet," Phil says, meticulously taking off the body armor he "borrowed" from KSI until he's down to a standard black t-shirt and pants that must be some sort of underarmor. He looks weird not wearing his black suit and tie. The only part of his usual uniform he's wearing is his stoic mask. "But we do have a destination."

"Where are we headed, then?"

"Back to DC, to meet up with someone who should be able to help. Or, at least, help us stop Hydra."

"Who are we even going after anymore anyway?" Darcy asks, folding her arms in front of her chest nervously. "I mean, Hydra, Megatron, Lockdown. They're all trying to do bad stuff. Who do we stop first?"

"Lockdown is out of the picture now, correct?" Natasha says, pointing her question towards Optimus.

"He was only after me and he did not notice us leave," Optimus nods. "He should be out of our hair. For now. He is bound to notice I am missing eventually, and then I have no doubt he will return."

"Right, so we don't have to worry about Lockdown for a while," Ari says. "That just leaves Hydra and Megatron."

"We found out what Hydra's planning," Clint says, stripping out of his armor as well. "When Phil and I snuck into KSI."

"They have this algorithm," Phil continues, pulling a duffle bag out of...somewhere. He opens it up, tossing Clint's Hawkeye uniform to him and pulling out a suit for himself. "It's generated a list of people they want killed based on information taken from social media, employee files, secure networks, everywhere. The algorithm determines if these people are threats to Hydra, whether presently or sometime in the future. Hydra's going to give that list to the Transformers for elimination."

"The perfect assassins," Ari mutters, thinking of those missions Galloway tried to get the Autobots on, the ones that sounded like assassinations. She always suspected Galloway wanted the Autobots to do them because of their ability to blend in and disappear without a trace.

Looks like she was right. And now he has his own army of assassins to control. They'll be able to take over the country—frag, probably even the entire world—in just a few hours. A world stomped under Hydra's boot.

"And let's not forget good ol' Megatron," Lina says, shifting atop Sunstreaker's shoulder with ease, like she's been doing it for years. "He's got to have plans of his own. He tricked Hydra into giving him a new body. What else could he have tricked them into doing?"

"I don't know about tricking," Ari says, running her thumb along her bottom lip in thought, "but he wants the Transformers. He wants to turn them into his new army. If he doesn't already have a way to control them, then that's what he's doing right now. Looking for a way."

"Then where are they?" Will asks, looking at Phil and Clint. "And when are they going to be ready?"

"Don't know," Phil shrugs. "We weren't able to find out while we were there. We don't even know how many Hydra's managed to build already. But we're heading for someone who may know."

"Who?"

"The same guy who sent Phil and me to KSI," Clint replies vaguely with a crooked smile. The ship jerks beneath them, landing on the ground, and he holds up his handful of clothes. "You guys head out and see for yourselves while Phil and I change. Don't worry, there're only friendlies out there."

The gangplank lowers at the back of the ship and they all exchange nervous glances. None of them are really in the mood for more surprises, but it's not like Clint and Phil would lead them into a trap. Plus, mischievousness rolls off of Clint in waves. It can't be that bad.

Then again, this is Clint.

"Come on, guys," Natasha says, walking down the gangplank with ease and confidence. "You're thinking too much."

"Do you know who's here?" John asks, everyone following sedately along behind her.

"No, because Clint likes his jokes and surprises, but he's my husband. Whatever this is, it's a good surprise."

"Yeah, or you're in on it," Tony grumbles, but they head for the abandoned dam they've landed next to.

They're in the outskirts of DC, in the middle of the woods along a dried-up river. Everything smells dry and crisp out here, like Halloween stories in the middle of fall. This river hasn't flowed for a long time, the water being rerouted somewhere further upstream, making this dam completely useless now.

A good place to hide. Or a good place for a trap. But Natasha's right, Clint wouldn't do that. It's just been a long day and Ari struggles to leave the uneasiness behind.

They go in through the service entrance, the Autobots using their holoforms to stay with them. Ari's spine tightens the further down the concrete hallway they walk, teeth grinding with the trepidation itching at the back of her skull. The flickering fluorescent lights and smell of musky dampness remind her of something and it takes her a moment to place it.

The Sector Seven base beneath Hoover Dam.

Her hand unconsciously reaches for Sideswipe's, threading their fingers together to keep him close. This place reminds her of the night Sideswipe was taken and tortured, and it'll be over her dead body if that happens again.

Sideswipe squeezes her hand, sending her reassurance and reminding her that nothing like that is going to happen this time, that Clint and Phil would only take them to a safe place. The memories don't leave her alone, though, making her see specters in the shadows.

This better be a fragging good surprise.

Clint and Phil catch up to them by the time they reach the end of the hallway, Clint jogging forward to pull a plastic tarp out of the way to reveal the next room.

It's concrete like everything else, empty of whatever equipment it used to hold that operated the dam. Now it holds hospital equipment, grouped around a bed.

And lying in that bed is a very much alive Nick Fury. He's bandaged and banged up and looks like he's been through a meat grinder. But he's very much alive.

Ari blinks a few times but, yep, that's Nick. Alive. Not dead.

"About time," he grouses, like a toddler finally getting out of time out. A doctor fusses around him, checking his blood pressure, and Nick uses his one good eye to level the man with a glare.

Yeah, that's really Nick. And he's alive.

She has the sudden urge to sit down. Lina actually _does_ sit down, mouth gaping as she stammers out, "Bu…But you died! You got shot right in front of me!"

"Guess it didn't take. But I did get a lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one giant headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor adds in sternly, and Ari can already imagine Fury hasn't been a very good patient. Probably trying to get out of that bed and back to work despite the list of injuries that all could have killed him.

"Oh, let's not forget that." His eye rolls in exasperation. "Otherwise, I'm good."

"You have a funny definition of what's good," Rob says, shaking his head.

"Why all the secrecy?" Steve asks, sounding as hurt and frustrated as all of them feel. Nick is a friend and he lied to them. He let them think he's been dead for days. "Why not just tell us?"

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," Phil explains.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury sighs, staring up at the ceiling as the doctor finishes up and leaves the room. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

"You really thought you couldn't trust us?" Ari asks, fists clenching at her sides. She _cried_ for him. She _blamed_ herself for him being…gone. But he's not. A part of her—a fragging big part—is so relieved, but then there's the burning pit in her stomach that feels a lot like betrayal. "Seriously, Nick? After everything?"

His eye lands heavily on her, filled with exhaustion and grief. "When's the last time you spoke to the rest of N.E.S.T.?"

Ari's mouth snaps shut and she averts her eyes, gnawing guilt replacing the fire. She should have checked in with the rest of N.E.S.T. ages ago, given them updates and orders. But she's left them in the dark.

Because any of them could be Hydra. She knows the Autobots aren't, and Optimus has kept them quietly up-to-date about what's going on, but the humans...

"That's what I thought," Fury says. "I'm sorry. Truly, I am. But I had to be sure."

"And are you now?"

"I am. I'm also sure of what it is they're planning."

"Phil and Clint filled us in," Steve says grimly. "They plan on using the Transformers they've made to take out the competition."

"And they plan on doing it tomorrow," Fury adds, sending them all into shocked silence. "All of you finding out and that little display at KSI forced Hydra to up their timetable."

"But I thought they didn't have that many Transformers yet," Sideswipe says, desperately pulling at straws. "That's what we overheard at KSI."

"They don't have as many as they'd _like_ , but they still have a couple dozen already made. I'd say that's plenty to take out all the major players. If they do it quietly enough—which these Transformers are more than capable of doing—then they might not even _need_ more."

"They'll probably make more anyway just for kicks and giggles," Tony snarks, pacing away before turning on Fury. "Seriously, Nicky, why did you wait so long? You could have come to me—to any of us—ages ago with this."

"I had to be sure," Fury grinds out again. "And I had to be careful. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s very existence is fragile. One wrong move could ruin the organization for good."

"Fine by me," Jane says, lifting her chin defiantly. "It should all come down."

His eye narrows at her dangerously. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has everything to do with it," Bucky speaks up. He pushes away from the wall he was leaning against, moving to the end of Fury's bed so the director can get a good look at him. If he's surprised that Steve's best friend—and his attempted murderer—is here, he doesn't show it. "Your organization is compromised. Hydra's been growing right under your nose and you didn't even notice."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? Why do you think I had Ms. Spitz look into it in the first place? I noticed."

"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve asks, stepping shoulder to shoulder with Bucky, like they must have done before on the battlefield.

Except this isn't a battlefield, this is a conversation between friends, and Ari steps in before the bloodbath can begin. "Guys, we've all made mistakes here, but blaming each other or ourselves isn't going to help."

"We still can't let S.H.I.E.L.D. carry on after this," Jane insists, standing just as stubbornly on Bucky's other side with Darcy right next to her. "It's like with infected tissue. The damage has spread too far. Amputation is the only way to go. We have to get rid of all of it."

Fury practically growls at her, "Over my dead body."

"It's the only way. Hydra has to be brought to light, and the only way to expose them is to expose S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. People need to know that Hydra exists, who's all a part of it, and what they've been doing."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"By leaking the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. network onto the web," Lina says, rising to her feet and sounding like she's thought a lot about this already. Though revealing secrets no one wants told is what she does best. "All of the personnel files, mission reports, all of it. Reveal all of the secrets so what Hydra has hidden inside can be rooted out."

"Fine," Fury agrees, though reluctantly. "I admit, that would get rid of Hydra rather effectively, but we could still salvage something of S.H.I.E.L.D. from it."

"We can't risk it," Steve says firmly, crossing his arms in front of his chest with that disappointed look Bucky was talking about. And it is _really_ bad. "Hydra could still be in the rubble and then the whole thing would start over again. Everything has to go. Everything."

"But we could-"

" _No_ ," Jane stomps over to his side, taking no pity in Fury and his injuries. She's practically shaking with the power of her anger, brimming out of her eyes like starlight. "Do you have any idea what could have happened? The kind of danger we were all put in? S.H.I.E.L.D. stole my research back in New Mexico, when Thor first fell. They had it and Hydra could have copied it. And I've been sharing things with you thugs, against my better judgment, ever since I started staying in New York. Because Coulson and Thor asked me to."

She holds up her hand inches from Fury's face, thumb and forefinger just centimeters apart. "I'm close, _this close_ , to figuring out the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. I'll probably be able to construct a working Bifrost within the year. That's interplanetary travel like _that_." She snaps her fingers together, actually making Fury blink and pull his face away. "How far behind me do you think Hydra is, huh? Are they working on their own Bifrost right now? And these guys have no idea what the rest of the Nine Realms is like. They could end up connecting with Jotunheim for all we know, and then what would happen? The Frost Giants don't exactly like us right now—no offence, Loki."

"None taken," Loki sneers, glaring ice daggers at Fury's helpless form. "She is right. If Hydra had made it to Jotunheim or any other hostile realm, it would have been catastrophic for all of Midgard. We should be extremely grateful Hydra was discovered before it was too late."

Fury and Ari both flinch. That would have been a right mess, making her wish yet again that she had caught all of this sooner.

But she takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, pushing the guilt away. There's nothing she can do about that now. But she can make things better for the future.

"They're right, Nick," Ari says gently, stepping up to the bed to take the hand of his uninjured arm. "We can't risk Hydra again, or anyone else like them. It all has to go. S.H.I.E.L.D., the World Security Council. We need to wipe the slate completely clean."

"And then what?" Fury mutters, staring up at the ceiling in defeat, a crumpled and broken man. "We can't just leave the world undefended. Despite everything, we still did a lot of good. We prevented a lot of evil in the world."

She squeezes his hand. "We'll still protect the world, Nick. We're not backing down. Not the Autobots, not N.E.S.T., and not the Avengers either."

"So, what, you're just going to protect the whole world by yourselves? It's a big world."

"No, I know we can't do it alone, and I haven't figured all the details out yet. Except that, when all this is over, you're getting us an audience with the United Nations." His eye snaps over to her in shock and she smiles. "We won't leave you out of the loop, don't worry. Unless you want to retire or something, which you should probably at least consider. You can't do this for the rest of your life. But we need _change_ , Nick, and we need to do it smart."

The corner of his mouth tips up into a small smile, a deep chuckle escaping him. "Change I can deal with. And I know you've got smart covered."

"You got that right," Tony quips.

"Wasn't talking about you, Stark," Fury throws back.

They all laugh, tension bleeding from the room, and Ari knows they'll be alright. No matter what happens, no matter what changes come or what the future brings, so long as they all stick together, they'll be alright.

They've dealt with things more impossible than this before.

"This is heartfelt and all," Loki interjects, breaking up their momentary happiness with bleak reality, "but there is still Megatron to deal with."

"Megatron?" Fury frowns. "I thought Megatron was dead?"

"Yeah, so did we," Ari mutters, pulling her hand away from his to rub tiredly at her eyes. "Looks like we were wrong."

They catch Fury up as quickly as they can, giving him the basics, which are basically Megatron is alive and he wants an army to kill everyone.

So, nothing new.

"He'll be headed for the Triskelion then," Fury says, wincing as he tries to find a more comfortable position on the bed. "That's where the main factory for the Transformers is. Galloway had an entire subbasement built for it without my knowledge."

"Then that's where we need to go," Steve says with a decisive nod. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone—take out Hydra and stop Megatron."

"Alright," Darcy grins. "Let's move it, people. We've got a world to save."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Yay, Nick isn't dead! He didn't die in the movie, either, but I know some of you don't really know the MCU. It's been very hard keeping a lid on it. But it's a nice surprise, right?_

 _Speaking of surprises, I have another one for you._

 _Are you ready?_

 _I finished writing When You Fall!_

 _It's been such a crazy adventure, but I finally finished getting it all down. And the final editing is done, so do you know what that means?_

 ** _Chapter 1 of 6 posted today._**

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time! (Which will be in a few minutes)_


	11. Hail Hydra

_**Author's Note**_

 _ **Chapter 2 of 6 posted today.**_

 _Hi again!_

 _So, yes, I'm going to post the remaining chapters of When You Fall, all today. It turned out to be fourteen chapters, plus an epilogue. I hope you guys have plenty of time to read all this because it's going to be one heck of an adventure._

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Hail Hydra**_

::I don't like this plan,:: Sideswipe says, voice coming from the comm nestled in Ari's ear instead of over the bond.

::We know that, Sideswipe,:: Optimus replies, exasperation and frustration starting to color even his endless patience. ::You have said so five times already.::

::But why do they have to go in without us?::

"It's the same reason you couldn't go with Loki and me into KSI," Ari mutters, the helmet of the guard uniform she wears hiding her face and muffling her voice enough to keep anyone from overhearing. "You're too big and your holoform is too obvious."

::Loki could have magicked me a uniform, too. Or we could have taken another council member.::

Ari suppresses a sigh, keeping pace with the group in front of her. Bucky and Loki are a couple paces to her left and right, also dressed as guards. Three other actual guards walk at the front of the group, and then between them are all twelve members of the World Security Council.

In the flesh, all of them together—in person—for the first time in the past decade.

Well, almost all of them.

::No,:: Sam shoots down. ::I've kidnapped more people than I thought I would hanging with you lot, and that British lady was hard enough. I think her elbow bruised my gut.::

The British member of the World Security Council—Casandra Hawley, as her name turns out to be—is currently in the safehouse, detained and out of the way so Natasha can take her place with the councilwoman's clothes, a wig procured by Fury, and a photostatic veil. She blends with the others effortlessly, staying in character and holding a quiet conversation with one of the other members.

::Seriously,:: Sam continues with false annoyance, the sounds of a smile edging into his voice, ::do you guys always break the law this much?::

::What, you didn't like breaking into the museum this morning?:: Steve teases.

::What if the guards get in trouble for losing your old World War II uniform?::

::I'll give it back and explain. I couldn't exactly go into this battle without any protection.::

::Going into battle naked isn't fun,:: Bruce replies wryly, ::even if you're me. Trust me on that.::

"Guys, focus," Ari chides softly. "We're approaching the front doors of the Triskelion."

It feels like walking into the lion's den. But hopefully there aren't just lions in here.

Galloway greets them in the lobby, dark eyes gleaming behind his glasses and holding himself with more confidence than Ari has ever seen him with before. He's supposed to work _for_ the World Security Council. And yet she can tell he's barely holding back a sneer of superiority.

Just how far up the food chain of Hydra is he? And does the Council know it?

"Hello, everyone," Galloway says cheerily with a clap of his hands and a broad grin. It all looks so wrong on him. "Welcome to the Triskelion. It's nice to see you all face to face for the first time."

"We certainly don't make a habit of it," the Chinese councilman says, hands clasped behind his back. "And I'd rather not stay any longer than I have to. Gathering like this is always risky."

"But well worth it," the American member says—Councilman Malick—his toothy smile reminding Ari of a shark, "considering what we're about to witness."

He's Hydra, definitely. She doesn't know about the other councilmembers, but she doesn't have to look at the AllSpark to know this guy is. She's never liked him—which might make her biased—but he has the same barely-suppressed glee that Galloway has. He knows what's going on.

"Before we begin, everyone needs to put on a badge." An agent comes up behind Galloway carrying a briefcase filled with several small pins. "This facility is biometrically controlled, and these will give you unrestricted access."

He passes out one to each councilmember and then motions for the agent to leave. Natasha stops him before he can even close the case, "Our guards will need them as well."

Galloway forces a charming smile, chuckling ruefully. "I'm sorry, councilwoman, but your guards are going to have to wait here in the lobby."

"That's not happening," Councilman Bernard pitches in, a bald man with a distinct French accent. "They are here for our protection, should anything go wrong."

"I assure you, you are all perfectly safe here at the Triskelion."

"Can you really guarantee that with all of the Avengers, N.E.S.T., and the Autobots on the loose?" Natasha asks, so full of disapproval it's hard to remember she's actually Natasha and not actually Hawley. "You said you had them under control and yet they are still running around causing upset wherever they go. Who's to say they won't come after us in some sort of revenge? Fugitives are always so unpredictable."

"If they show up here, our agents will handle it."

"That's not good enough," Bernard cuts in, waving the agent with the briefcase over and taking the pins himself. "Our guards come with us and that's final."

Galloway takes a small breath, forcing calm and complacency. "Very well. Then if everyone is ready, just follow me, and we can go up to the council room to view the launch."

The elevator is a tight fit, barely containing them all, but the elevator ride is thankfully short. They spill out onto a floor a few moments later, Galloway leading them down the hall to a room Ari recognizes. The room where she first stepped into her role as Autobot Ambassador, right after Egypt.

It looks the same, even after several years. Wall made up of windows directly across from the door, a computer and glass board to their right, and in the center of the room a circle of chairs for each of the councilmembers. Except the holographic displays aren't needed now. Instead, the councilmembers sit in their designated chairs, probably the first use those chairs have actually ever seen.

The other guards take up stations around the room, so Ari, Loki, and Bucky follow suit, trying to take the best vantage points the room has to offer.

Ari finds a place as close to Galloway as possible, where he stands at the computer entering in commands to open up a comm link. "Transformer control, this is Triskelion command," he speaks clearly, glancing at the Council in victory. "You are clear to initiate."

" _Copy, Triskelion command,"_ someone replies, the operator's voice filling the room like they're at NASA waiting to launch a spaceship. _"Standby for countdown."_

Ari bites her lip, struggling to stay still. The others should be in the building by now, Steve leading them towards the Triskelion's control room. Once they have control of the building, they'll be able to make it into the lower levels where the Transformers are being kept. Transformer control should be down there as well. If they can make it there, they can stop the launch and end this before it's too late.

But where are they?

"I know the road hasn't exactly been smooth," Galloway walks over to a side table, pouring champagne into several glasses and beginning to pass them out, "and some of you would have gladly kicked me out of the car along the way."

Chuckles ripple around the circle of councilmembers, holding their glasses high as Galloway does the same. "Finally we're here, and the world should be grateful."

Ari's stomach drops. They're _all_ Hydra? Or is he speaking of the ruse to use the Transformers as protectors of the world? They can't risk turning their backs on anyone in this building, but she was hoping to find out at least some of the members of the World Security Council aren't Hydra.

Static crackles in the air as the Triskelion comm system comes to life. Galloway pauses with the champagne glass halfway to his lips, looking up at the ceiling curiously.

Looks like this is not part of the day's schedule.

" _Attention, all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents,"_ a familiar voice echoes through the speakers, transmitting throughout the entire building. _"This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. And the Avengers and N.E.S.T. and the Autobots, too. Some of you were even ordered to hunt us down. I think it's time you know the truth._

" _S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by Hydra. Theodore Galloway is one of them. The Strike and Transformer crew are Hydra as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Transformers today, Hydra will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them."_

He takes a breath and when he speaks again he's regretful. Regretful, but resolute. _"I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."_

" _Did he practice that speech?"_ Sideswipe asks over the bond, unable to hide his amusement.

" _I don't know,"_ Ari replies, pressing her lips together to stifle her laughter. It's a good thing this helmet covers her face. _"It did sound like he practiced in front of a mirror, doesn't it?"_

There's a moment of silence as Cap's words truly sink in. That Hydra is alive and right here. Ari worries for a second that no one will believe the words of a fugitive, not even when it's Captain America, but then the room erupts into chaos.

The Indian member—Councilman Singh—rounds on Galloway, shaking with fury. "You smug son of a-"

"Now, now," Galloway interrupts, straightening his tie with a sly smirk. "No need to be rude."

"What have you done?" Bernard asks, clear lines being drawn as the Council leap to their feet in outrage. Most of them seem incredulous, shouting questions in disbelief and anger, but three of them move to Galloway's side in solidarity. Including Malick. They also stand slightly behind Galloway, confirming her suspicions.

Galloway is the head of Hydra. He's behind everything.

"Don't just stand there," Singh shouts at the guards, stabbing a finger towards the traitors. "Arrest them."

Ari stiffens, waiting to see how this plays out. It doesn't really surprise her when the guards instead point their guns at the remaining councilmembers, showing their allegiance to Hydra.

How far does this spread? Is most everyone S.H.I.E.L.D., or Hydra? Is it an even mix, or are they seriously outnumbered here?

Ari, Bucky, and Loki point their guns at the group as well, having no choice but to play along. Natasha is in the line of fire with the other members, but she's the one who will tell them when it's time to move.

Galloway clasps his hands behind his back, seeming to have grown ten times his size as he finally gets to show the power and control he's always had over everyone. "I guess I've got the floor."

::We've got control of the elevators,:: Steve announces in her ear comm. ::Descending to the Transformer level.::

"Let me ask you a question," Galloway says conversationally, picking up the champagne bottle and approaching the councilmembers like a lion before gazelle. "What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were going to drag your daughters into a soccer stadium for execution?" He tilts the champagne glass still in Singh's hand towards himself, refilling it like he's expecting him to join in the celebration. "And you could just stop it with a flick of a switch. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you all?"

Singh's face twists in a snarl, tossing the glass aside in a shatter of defiance. "Not if it was your switch."

"Very well, then." One of the guards hands Galloway his handgun.

But before he can use it, Natasha moves.

She kicks Singh out of harm's way, spinning to take out the guard before snatching the gun out of Galloway's hand.

Finally.

Ari swivels with her own gun, Loki and Bucky doing the same. Together, they take out the other guards in the room before pointing their weapons at the remaining Hydra members.

Natasha takes off her veil and wig with a satisfied smirk, pointing the gun she took at Galloway's head. "I'm sorry. Did I step on your moment?"

With a snap of Loki's fingers, the guard uniforms him, Ari, and Bucky wear disappear, the badges Galloway had them put on clinking to the floor. Loki's in his Asgardian armor, Bucky a leather tactical suit Fury provided, and Ari her N.E.S.T. uniform.

Ari rotates her shoulders, stepping up to take Natasha's place covering the Hydra members while the spy moves to the computer. Clint's right, those helmets are ridiculously small, even magic ones. She's glad to be rid of it. And this means they're half-way home.

"You came." Bernard says, bewildered.

Ari looks over her shoulder at the Council, brow furrowing at their surprise. "Of course I came. The Autobots and N.E.S.T. are here, too. Plus all the Avengers, of course."

"But why?" Singh asks, shaking his head. "We ordered you captured. We ordered the Autobots to leave Earth. We hunted you. Why help us now?'

"We didn't come to save you. We didn't even come to save S.H.I.E.L.D." She nods towards the windows. At everything beyond them and everything that's at stake. "Those people out there, they don't know what's going on here. They have no idea the kind of danger they're in. You don't either, but we're doing this for them. Because they need us to."

"You don't know what those people need," Galloway spits out, taking a step forward before the clicks of their guns stop him. "They _want_ to be controlled. They need someone to put order in place so that chaos doesn't spread across the globe."

"That ain't order you're wanting to give them," Bucky growls, pressing the barrel of his gun against Galloways head. "That's mass murder."

"It's how you used to see it, _soldat_ ," Galloway says, the Russian word for soldier flowing easily off of his tongue. His eyes zero in on Bucky, concentrating on him like he's trying to break Bucky down with the power of his mind. "And you'll see it that way again. Zhelaniye."

Ari stiffens, not liking the predatory look in Galloway's eyes. And why the frag did he just say "longing" in Russian?

"Rzhavyy."

Rusted.

"No," Bucky whispers, horror making his face turn white, like he's seen a ghost. Or a memory.

"Semnadtsat'."

Seventeen.

"Bucky, what's going on?" Ari asks, not taking her eyes off Galloway. Should she shoot him? Is he doing something bad?

"I...I know those words," Bucky whimpers, sounding terrified and Ari can't figure out why.

"Rassvet."

Daybreak.

"It's okay, Barnes," Loki soothes, placing a calming hand on Bucky's shoulder while staring daggers at Galloway. "Those words cannot harm you anymore."

Galloway frowns but persists. "Pech'. Devyat'."

Furnace. Nine.

"What are they?" Ari asks, glancing back and forth between Bucky and Galloway. Bucky shakes his head back and forth, gun drooping in his hands, and she's seriously thinking about shooting Galloway right now to make him shut up.

But how could a few simple words scare Bucky this much?

"Dobroserdechnyy. Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu."

Benign. Homecoming.

"They're trigger words Hydra implanted into Bucky's brainwashing," Loki explains coldly. "For if he ever got out of their control."

"Odin."

One.

"It's a technique perfected by their Russian members. State the words in a specific order, and they'll return him to a state of total compliance."

"Gruzovoy vagon."

Freight car.

There's a moment of tense silence as they all just stare at each other, Galloway grinning and Bucky practically shaking.

"Dobroye utro, soldat."

Good morning, soldier.

Natasha has her gun in her hand, aimed at Bucky, but he just stares blinking at them all. Before frowning in confusion. "I...I'm okay?"

Galloway jerks back, obviously expecting a different response. "What? That's impossible!"

"No, it's not," Loki growls with a shark-like grin. "I took the control words out of him whenever I returned him to his right mind. All traces of brainwashing are completely gone. And unless you want a taste of what your so-called control is like," Loki raises his hand, tendrils of green magic swirling around his fingers, "I suggest you remain silent."

Galloway's jaw clenches but he nods, holding back the scathing retort she can see burning in his eyes.

Ari has a scathing retort of her own—or perhaps she'll just strangle him, it could go either way—but instead she focuses on Bucky, rubbing her hand up and down his back. He's still shaking slightly, staring with rounded eyes at Galloway like he's expecting the words to kick in at any moment and to lose himself again.

"It's okay, Bucky," she whispers to him, continuing to offer him comfort as he gradually calms down. "He can't hurt you anymore."

"R-Right," Bucky stammers, holding his gun more firmly in his hands again as the reality that he's still himself sinks in. "I'm alright."

"You good?" Natasha checks.

"Yeah," he nods, leveling his gun at the Hydra members again. "Keep going."

Natasha nods back, returning her attention to the computer while Ari raises her hand to her ear comm. "What's your status, guys?" Ari asks, ready for all this to be over.

::We're almost to Transformer control,:: Steve replies, sounding nervous. ::Haven't met any opposition yet. It's quiet down here.::

::Too quiet,:: Rob mutters.

::Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?:: Sam asks, genuinely curious.

::If they're shooting at you, they're bad.::

Yeah, that makes sense.

::Almost ther-crap!:: Sam gets cut off and Ari's heart lunges into her throat. ::Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about.::

"You guys okay?" Ari asks, viciously chewing on her lip.

::Well, we're not dead yet. This is just going to take a bit longer.::

"Let us know when you're in, and stay safe."

::Will do.::

"What are you doing?" Singh asks, staring at Natasha curiously.

"She's disabling security protocols," Galloway answers for her, "and dumping all the secrets onto the internet."

"Including Hydra's," Natasha adds pointedly.

"And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s," he shoots back, arching a brow when Natasha doesn't even spare him a glance, taking it to be trepidation. "If you do this, none of your past is going to remain hidden. Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?"

Natasha gazes at him resolute, like a patriot standing in front of the firing squad. "Are you?"

It's like playing chicken, the way they stare at each other. Seeing who will back down first. Galloway's mouth screws up, and he pulls at one last straw. "Disabling the encryption is an executive order. It takes two Alpha Level members."

"Don't worry," Ari says with a pleased smile, watching out the windows as a helicopter comes in to land on the rooftop on the other side of the glass. "Company's coming."

Fury climbs out of the helicopter, Lina right behind him as the copter powers down. Fury's steps are tender but sure, too stubborn to stay resting in bed even for his own good.

But they do kind of need him for this part, so Ari bites her tongue. Besides, that's why Lina is here, to make sure he doesn't overdo it.

A part of the window slides away to allow them inside, the Council staring at him in shock. Though if Galloway is surprised, he doesn't show it, just gives a cheeky, "Did you get my flowers?"

If Fury had two eyes, Galloway would probably be dead, his glare is so cold. "No, but I did get the bullet you sent me."

Galloway shrugs unapologetically. "You know how the game works. That's why I let you stay the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. as long as I did. You're the best and most ruthless person I've ever met."

"I do what I have to, to protect the world from people like you."

"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick—disorder, war," Galloway says, sounding so earnest, so filled with conviction. He sounds like a cult leader, giving his pitch to a potential follower. "It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy?" He slices his hand through the air. "Holding action—a band-aid. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it."

Fury shakes his head, grabbing Galloway by the shoulder with his good arm. "No, I have the courage not to."

Ari follows them with her gun, keeping it pointed at Galloway's head as Fury forces him to the holographic board near the computer. Natasha already has the retinal scanner set up, Fury pushing Galloways' head down so his eye becomes level with the circle on the screen. After a moment, it dings and turns green.

"You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?" Galloway asks, straightening with a condescending smirk.

"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me," Fury lifts up the eyepatch over his left eye and Ari's breath sucks in through her teeth. His eye looks dead, completely clouded over with a long white scar cutting through it. "You need to keep both eyes open."

Fury bends down, allowing the computer to scan his scarred eye.

"Alpha Level confirmed," the computer announces. "Encryption code accepted. Safeguards removed."

::We've made it to Transformer command,:: Steve says, sounding winded but okay. She hopes all of them are okay but now is not the time to ask. ::How're things up there?::

"We're almost through." Ari fishes her phone out of her pocket, bringing up the first social media site she can think of. Her brow arches, both impressed and terrified. "It's done. And already trending."

The hold Galloway had over his emotions breaks, the ugly monster finally showing underneath. His eyes go dark with murderous intent, his voice gravely like a hungry wolf. "You are going to regret this."

"No, you are," Ari replies, shoving her phone away and taking a step closer to him with her gun. Never has she wanted so badly to shoot someone, she can feel the urge shaking in her bones, but her arm remains steady. "You're going to regret messing with me and my family."

"Family?" Galloway scoffs. "They're aliens! They're freaks! But you're not entirely human anymore yourself, are you?"

"It doesn't matter who's alien and who's human! It's about doing the right thing! Do you really think killing millions of people would actually help everyone else?"

"It's the _only_ way." He lifts his chin, staring down his nose at her. "And if we have to start all over again, then so be it."

Something clicks in his hand and before she can even think that something's wrong, there's a mechanical _whirring_ behind her. She spins, just in time to see the pins the councilmembers were wearing finish burrowing holes in each of their chests. Their bodies hit the floor with sickening thumps, and she doesn't have to check to know they're dead.

The entire World Security Council. Gone. The guards, too, fallen to the floor all around the room. Ari, Loki, and Bucky are lucky their pins came off with their uniforms.

But Natasha….

Ari spins back around, air caught in her throat as she sees Natasha still alive and standing. But Galloway holds up the remote in his hand threateningly.

"Ah, ah, ah," he taunts, shaking his finger at them and they all still with guns pointed at him. "Unless you want a two-inch hole in your sternum, Agent Romanoff, I'd put that gun down."

None of them move, Ari tempted to call a bluff. He really wouldn't do it, would he? They'd put him down in a second.

"That was armed the moment you pinned it on," he reminds them, daring them to challenge him. And that's when Ari knows he would do it. Just to take Natasha from them.

They all lower their weapons, standing still like there's a bomb in the room.

"Much better." He saunters over to the computer, speaking into the comm, "How much longer?"

"The Transformers are online and ready to deploy," the operator confirms. "Just waiting for them to connect to the satellite array so we can assign targets."

Heavy static fills the room, followed by muffled shouting, and dread fills the pit in Ari's stomach. Galloway's brow furrows in confusion, but not worry.

He should be.

::I'm sorry,:: Will says in her ear, confirming her suspicion. ::We're too late.::

"Say again? Transformer command, do you read me?"

"Galvatron's active!" someone knew shouts over the comm, his terror spreading out to all of them. "He's not taking our commands and he's attacking the base!"

"What do you mean, not taking commands?" Galloway growls in frustration. "Just shut him down and bring up the Stingers."

"H-He's taken them over! They've all gone haywire and-"

There's a strangled scream and then the line goes dead.

"Transformer command," Galloway tries. "Transformer command, do you read me? Is anyone there?"

"No one is there anymore, Galloway," Ari mutters softly, failure sitting heavy in her chest. She was hoping to prevent this. They were _so close_ , but in the end, it wasn't enough. "Galvatron tricked you. Megatron transferred himself from his head to Galvatron's body. You never had any control over him. You were just Megatron's puppet, and now he has what he wants. A new body and a new army."

"No," Galloway shakes his head, denial and fear warring with each other. "You lie."

The floor rumbles beneath them, rhythmic like a heartbeat. Or pounding metal fists against concrete. "Does that sound like I'm lying? They're forcing themselves to the surface. Once they do, Megatron will take the Seed and detonate it in the city."

"No…." Galloway staggers back on his feet, eyes wide and slack-jawed. "We were so close. The perfect world…."

"There won't be any world," Ari says, shaking her head. "Not unless you help us."

She can see it in his eyes, just for a moment. The understanding. The horror of what Hydra did, of what they made possible. They want to control the world. Instead, they've condemned it. He gets it and Ari thinks he might actually help them.

But then his jaw clenches, face twisting with rage and defiance and a will that declares—if I can't win, no one can.

He raises his hand, thumb poised to press the button that will end Natasha's life.

But Bucky is faster.

He raises his gun with his metal arm and fires before anyone can so much as gasp, hitting Galloway squarely in the forehead. Galloway gapes like a fish for a second before dropping to the floor, the detonator skittering across the tile.

Bucky steps up to Galloway's body, lowering his arm and staring down at him with a grim set to his mouth.

"No more," he whispers, a weight lifting off of him that he's carried for decades.

"Feel better?" Loki asks casually, like all Bucky did was pull a thorn from his foot.

Bucky takes a deep breath. "Ask me again when all this is over."

"That won't be for a while," Natasha says, tearing the pin off her blazer and crushing it under her shoe. "War is about to break out in DC."

"Then we need to find the Seed and get it out of the city," Ari says, moving to the computer and running a search to find out where the Seed ended up. "Megatron and his army should follow us, trying to get their hands on it. We lure them away from civilians and end this before another Battle of Chicago happens."

The ground shakes, harder this time, just as the computer brings up a map of the building with a flashing red dot. Finally, some good news. Galloway put a tracker on it. Ari studies the map, comparing it to the schematics of the building she memorized. Looks like it's somewhere on the ground floor.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Ari says into her ear comm, pulling her phone back out to connect to the computer and download the tracker. "Megatron is awake and controlling the Transformers. They're making their way to the surface and are going to be swarming the city in just a few minutes. I want everyone to meet in front of the Triskelion and get ready to fight."

::Great,:: Sam grumbles. ::I didn't think I'd be fighting an alien war when I signed on with you guys either.::

::You regretting it?:: Clint asks.

::Nah. I think I'd rather be fighting this war than standing on the sidelines. It's just…you guys deal with a lot of crazy.::

::You don't know the half of it,:: Sunstreaker replies.

"It's not usually like this," Ari reassures him, her phone pinging once it finishes the download. "Sure, it'll be crazy, but not end-of-the-world proportions."

::Good to know. I think.::

"He kept it close?" Natasha asks, eying Ari's phone as she strips out of her borrowed clothes to reveal her Black Widow uniform underneath. Loki waves his hand, pulling combat boots out of whatever magical pocket dimension he was storing them in and handing them to her to quickly pull on. "Good. Saves time."

"Which we don't have a lot of so you better get going," Fury says, glancing down at his arm in the sling like he's debating on taking the sling off, but Ari shakes her head at him, punctuated by Lina placing her hands on her hips in a stubborn stance.

"You are in no condition to fight," Lina informs him, ready to manhandle him if she has to. "So don't even think it."

He sighs heavily. "Fine. We'll stay here, try to secure the building and get all the Hydra agents rounded up. You guys finish this thing."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _I know some of you guys were looking forward to Galloway dying like the CIA dude in Age of Extinction, but it seemed important to me, somehow, that Bucky be the one to do it. That man was responsible for so much torture and heartache for Bucky. It just felt right._

 _So one bad guy is dealt with (sort of). Now on to the next one._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	12. Prehistoric Allies

_**Author's Note**_

 _ **Chapter 3 of 6 posted today**_

 _This chapter has some characters coming that some of you have been looking forward to. I took some liberties with history and stuff that I hope you guys are okay with._

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Prehistoric Allies**_

The lobby is in chaos when the elevator opens up, another war that's being fought all over the world in S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities just like this one. People have taken sides and are shooting at each other, friends and partners and trusts broken irrevocably.

The stairwell door bursts open, Steve and the others spilling out into the chaos.

Clint looks around at it all, overwhelmed. "Who're the good guys and who're the bad guys?"

The ground shakes, the marble floor cracking. "I do not think it matters," Thor says. "We are about to have company."

They watch as the cracks in the floor spread, gunfire puttering out as agents stop to watch. Ari wants to warn them, tell them to run, but would they even listen?

The floor splits open, metal fingers slipping through the fissure.

It's too late anyway.

"Ari?" Bucky says with a thread of panic. "Which way to the Seed?"

"This way!" Ari shouts, following the red dot on her phone. "I got it! Everyone else, get out!"

"I don't think so, kiddo," Will says, chasing after her with Rob right beside him. "You ain't trapezing through Hydra agents without backup."

Ari rolls her eyes, fighting a smile. "Fine, whatever, just keep up."

"No, you go faster!" Rob demands, concrete and marble flying everywhere as the first of the Stingers climb out of the giant whole they made.

They enter a hodgepodge of hallways and offices, zigzagging their way towards the Seed. There are less people back here, probably because this is more of an administration section of the building, so there's not really any fighting. Anyone working back here probably had the sense to get out when the shooting started.

Ari skids to a halt when she's right on top of the dot, Will and Rob running into her back. She shushes them, pressing a finger to her lips and pulling her gun out with her other hand. They nod, holding their guns at the ready as well. Rob moves to the left of the door she nods to, Ari to the right, and Will stands steady right in front of it. At his nod, Ari turns the nob and shoves the door open, following Will and Rob into the room with guns raised and orders for anyone in the room to freeze.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot, don't shoot!" someone shouts shrilly, making them blink. A bald man with glasses and a rumbled suit sits cowering in the corner of the room, a large canvas bag leaning against the wall beside him. His hands are raised, fear widening his eyes and shaking him from head to toe.

Definitely not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Or a Hydra agent, for that matter. It takes Ari a second to recognize him, but when she does, she lowers her weapon. "Joyce?" she says in bewilderment, motioning for Will and Rob to lower their guns as well. This guy's completely harmless. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I _was_ taking possession of the Seed," he stammers, clutching the bag close to his side, "but then everything went freakin' crazy with shooting and shouting and an alien taking over my robots!"

A rumble shakes the building, the walls and ceiling visibly vibrating with the force of it. That was definitely a lot closer. They really don't have time for this.

Ari takes a deep breath. The short version, then. "So, basically, you've been working for Hydra, they wanted to use your robots to kill a bunch of people and take over the world, but we stopped them before they could, and then Megatron took over your robots before _we_ could stop _him_."

She looks to Will and Rob and they shrug their shoulders. "Yeah," Will says, "that sounds about right. So we ready to go?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Joyce protests, pulling the bag away when Ari moves to take it from him.

"Look," she says, starting to lose her patience with every rumble that moves their way. "That thing you're holding there? The Seed? That's what Megatron and his robot army are after. So you've got two options here. Give us the Seed and stay here, hoping the Hydra agents and robots leave you alone, or come with us and maybe live through this day."

He gulps heavily, neither option probably sounding good to him. It's one dangerous decision or an even more dangerous decision. But it's a choice he has to make and Ari stares at him hard until he gets to his feet, hoisting the bag over his shoulder.

He nods, shakily at first, then more firmly. "Alright. I may very well have started this apocalypse so...I'll go with you. And not dying sounds great right now."

She's pretty sure there's a _Terminator_ joke in here somewhere but a crash down the hall has her biting her tongue and ushering them all out the door. They've lost a lot of time. She can feel whatever head start they had dwindling fast. She takes the lead again, following her bond with Sideswipe to find the lobby.

There's a fragging massive hole in the middle of the floor. And no agents in sight. That isn't really surprising. The possibility of the end of the world must make fighting each other seem unimportant.

Blaster fire sounds from outside, making them all duck instinctively. Speaking of the end of the world...

Ari runs for the door, just as Sideswipe and Optimus work together to finish off one of the Stingers. Sideswipe pulls his blade out of the bot's middle, looking Ari up and down while asking, "You alright?"

"Yep," she says cheerily, even though all of this is so far from alright. But none of them are hurt yet and that's what counts. She jerks her thumb back at Joyce. "You ready to do some running? We've got to get this Seed out of here."

"Getting it out of here isn't going to mean much if we don't stop these Transformers. There's dozens of them. They could easily tear the city apart just by themselves."

"Then it's time to call in some reinforcements," Optimus decides.

Ari frowns. "But there's no guarantee another N.E.S.T. team is anywhere near here. They probably won't get here in time, even with Autobots driving. And even if they _could_ get here, they're probably dealing with their own Hydra agents right now."

The thought that anyone in N.E.S.T. could be Hydra sets Ari's teeth on edge, like a horse biting at the bit. She doesn't want to believe it. But, seriously, the odds are insanely high that there are just as many Hydra agents inside N.E.S.T. as there are in S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I was not talking about Autobot reinforcements," Optimus says mysteriously, piquing Ari's interest. "There are others we may be able to call on for aid, but I will need your help, Ari, in getting them."

She hesitates, not liking the idea of leaving while everyone else fights. Not to mention, she doesn't trust Joyce not to just run off with the Seed the moment their backs are turned. But she trusts Optimus knows what he's doing, and they really could use the help. "Alright. Where are we going?"

"Back to the ship," he says, transforming into his alt mode, door swinging open for her.

"You guys be careful," Will says, pulling Ari in for a quick hug. "And hurry. The sooner this all ends, the better."

"We'll be fine," Ari says before turning to Sideswipe, already seeing the decision in his optics. She shakes her head at him. "You can't come with us, Sides."

Defiance pushes against her along the bond. "And why not?"

"I need you to stay with them." She waves her hand at Joyce and the Seed. "I need you to make sure the Seed stays away from Megatron. They need the backup more than we do."

An argument builds up in him, about to boil over, but she pushes calm at him. And urgency. They don't have time for a proper debate. "Not a damsel, remember? I can take care of myself. Plus, I'll have Optimus with me."

He jerks his head in a nod, not liking it but accepting. She doesn't need him to be her bodyguard, and he knows that. Still, he bends down, pressing a lingering kiss to her lips and asking, _"Are we ever going to keep our promise of fighting together?"_

No accusation, not in his voice or the emotions over the bond. Just…frustration and a sense of foreboding. It still stings, though, knowing that she's breaking that promise _again_. The universe just seems to be against them lately and she doesn't see any other way around it.

" _Sides, I'm sorry, I—"_

He shakes his head softly, nuzzling into her hand when she lifts it to stroke the side of his face. _"I know. I understand. I don't like it, but I understand. Just…you better be careful."_

" _You know we will."_ She pulls back reluctantly, hoisting herself up into Optimus's alt mode. "Don't worry," she says aloud, giving him one last, reassuring smile. "We'll be back before you know it."

And, hopefully, with help.

* * *

Despite Sideswipe's worries, it's relatively easy to get back to the ship. They meet almost no resistance. All of the fighting is still around the river, where the Triskelion is, though it's made it to the shore by now as Joyce, the Avengers, and N.E.S.T. get the Seed further and further away.

That Seed is like a shining beacon, bringing all of the Transformers right to it. Along with Megatron.

They don't have much time. Because it doesn't matter how fast they are. They'll need to stop eventually, and when they do, they will be found.

Optimus skids to a halt, barely waiting for Ari to get out before transforming into his bipedal form. They race up the open gangplank of the ship, Optimus leading her to the hold with all the cages, including the one he was held in.

And all the ones that are still occupied.

"What _are_ we going to do with all of them?" Ari wonders aloud, seeing at least a half dozen different species of alien just in this room. There could be even more hidden away somewhere.

"Hopefully, Thor and Loki can use the Bifrost to get them home," Optimus says, moving to one of the cages to peer inside. "But I was thinking we could free four of them today."

"You're not serious, are you?" a voice says.

They turn to see Darcy step out of a corridor, tazer held warily in her hand. Her and Jane were left behind on the ship with Phil watching over them. They're _supposed_ to be hiding.

"Heard you come in," Darcy says, answering before they can ask. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't, you know, Decepticons or Hydra agents or anything."

"Where's Phil?" Ari asks, wondering how Darcy managed to convince him to let her go instead of checking it out himself. He's supposed to be protecting them, after all, though she can imagine Darcy putting up a fight at that thought.

"He's making sure Jane doesn't electrocute herself. Or send all of us into a black hole." She shrugs her shoulders with a casualness that's somewhat disturbing. "Really, there's about a thirty percent chance of either happening."

Ari's almost afraid to ask but she forces herself to anyway. "And why is that?"

Does she really want to know? And how can Darcy say that with such certainty? Is this a common occurrence?

"Come on, I'll show you." Darcy turns back the way she came, Optimus and Ari sharing a troubled glance before following. They don't have a whole lot of time but...this might be something they should consider _stopping_ before they leave.

The potential for a black hole is never a good thing. Though she'd think Phil would have stopped them from doing something so dangerous.

They find Jane and Phil in a room down the hall, huge machines taking up most of the space and humming with sleepy life. It looks like some kind of engine room, maybe even a dark matter drive.

And there are parts scattered about everywhere that probably shouldn't have been taken out.

Muffled cursing floats towards them, barely audible above the humming. They follow it to where Jane's sitting cross-legged on the floor, using something that vaguely looks like a wrench to poke at an unknown piece of alien tech in her hand.

Ari levels a dead-eyed stare at Phil, leaning against the wall behind Jane. "What in the world are you letting her do?"

"She had an idea to help," he replies stonily, his calm a bit reassuring, but he can be calm in the middle of a warzone. He'd probably still be calm if they were all about to be blown up.

"Is this something she _should_ be doing? Darcy mentioned something about a potential black hole?"

"Dr. Foster reassures me she knows what she's doing. And I trust her work. Besides," he heaves a heavy sigh, "do you really think there's any stopping her?"

They all stare down at Jane, muttering to herself as she uses another tool to splice some wires poking out of whatever she's working on. Her hair is completely disheveled, like she's pulled at it with her hands, and something that might be grease coats her jeans.

Okay, yeah, Jane is in full mad-scientist mode. There really isn't any stopping her when she's like this. At the Tower, the only way would be to shut everything down and forcibly remove her from the lab.

And they can't take her out of the ship, what with everything going on.

"Right." Ari takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, crouching as close to Jane's side as the scattered machine parts allow her. "Jane?"

The only reply is a gruff grunt, but it's better than nothing. It means she's at least listening.

"Jane, what in the world are you doing?"

"I'm making a mini worm hole device," she says simply, never looking up as she twists some wires together.

Ari rocks back on her heels. "You mean a Bifrost? That's basically what the Bifrost is, right? It makes a worm hole through space to transport you from one place to another?"

"Yep."

Optimus blinks. "I thought you could not make a Bifrost yet?"

"I can't. At least not a fully-functioning one." She sets the device down, wiping her hands on her jeans and getting more gunk on them. "The worm hole part, however, the actual transportation part? That's easy. I figured it out ages ago. I just don't know how to open a worm hole and make sure you go where you actually want to go."

"It's like putting the Tardis on random," Darcy explains, drawing on their shared love of _Doctor Who_. "You'll travel through time and space but you won't know where you'll end up."

"Sort of," Jane hedges, tilting her hand from side to side. "Anyway, we don't need to worry about the destination part, not right now. Not for what I want to use it for."

"And what do you want to use it for?" Ari asks, afraid of the answer because there is a seriously mad gleam in Jane's eyes.

"For blasting crazy robots off Earth and across the universe."

"You can do that?" Optimus asks, faceplates slack at the thought.

"As soon as I'm done with this, yeah." She picks the device back up, selecting another tool around her. "The technology on this ship is awesome. I should have something rigged up in, oh, fifteen minutes. It'll be fully portable, too."

Phil arches a brow at them. "Does that sound worth the potential for black holes?"

Ari nods, kind of afraid of Jane at the moment. "Yeah. You just…keep doing what you're doing. Let us know when you're done and we'll help you find some robots to zap."

Jane just grunts again, fully focused on her work and tuning everything else out. Ari stands, backing away slowly so she and Optimus can get back to doing what they're here for.

Jane is definitely very scary sometimes.

"So, Optimus," Ari says, heading back to the hold, "who was your idea for backup?"

"Them," he says, moving to a grouping of four cages larger than all the others.

Ari peers through the bars of one of the cages, stepping back abruptly when the prisoner growls at her, like an animal. Green optics stare back at her, primal and wild and hungry for freedom. This Cybertronian is bigger than any single bot she's ever seen, even bigger than Optimus. But there's something off about him. He has a bipedal form, and yet he seems almost...animalistic. More so than she's ever seen before.

"What happened to them?" Ari whispers, afraid of spooking them, like they're tigers held in poachers' cages for far too long. The other three are the same as the first, a bit smaller and with different armor, but with that same feral air. Even their armor seems wild, all jagged edges and unpainted silver. What do their alt modes look like?

"I was hoping you can tell me," Optimus says, kneeling down next to her to get a closer look. "I spoke with them, before you rescued me. They understood our Cybertronian language but didn't respond. However, I do not recognize them from Cybertron. Whoever they are, they were captured before war broke out."

"Let me take a peek," Ari says, already moving her mind towards her hallway of doors. The AllSpark shows her the way, pulling her through a door hidden deeper than she usually travels.

Because, she realizes, it's a part of Earth's history she's never had occasion to look at.

"These Cybertronians are old," she gasps, closing her eyes to better focus on the images playing out in her head. "So old. Older than mankind, older than you. They're almost as old as Cybertron itself."

"How is that possible?" he asks incredulously. "Jetfire was the oldest Cybertronian I have ever known to survive the war, and even he eventually perished. Are you saying they are even older than him?"

"Yeah. They were created before the seven original Primes fought, and soon after they got the rest of the Cybertronian race started. While the Primes scoured the universe looking for suns to harvest for energon, they sent the newly-created Cybertronians out as well, looking for uninhabited planets to detonate Seeds on. To make more Cybertronian protoforms, they needed more metal. But then they stumbled upon Earth."

She can see a Seed falling from the Cybertronian ship, a ship that looks a lot like the one Lockdown flies. Actually, she'd say it's exactly like it. Meaning his ship was originally an exploration ship, reoutfitted to carry prisoners.

But what was with the pedestal and all the swords? What did that have to do with their exploration? She files the information away for later, instead focusing on what the AllSpark is trying to tell her.

"A Seed detonated on the planet millennia ago," she continues, horrified as she watches the Seed erupt metal for miles and miles, charging like a tsunami, coating everything and freezing it instantaneously. It reminds her of when Han Solo from _Star Wars_ was frozen in carbonite, but this time, everything isn't just coated in metal. It _became_ metal, right down to a cellular level. "They didn't know the planet was inhabited. Humans weren't around, not yet. But dinosaurs were.

"It changed them, making them into a hybrid of animal and Cybertronian. Part alien, and part of Earth. It's why they have an understanding of your language and have a bipedal form. I'd say, they can even transform. But they're still mostly animals on the inside."

"Forever changed into something they were never meant to be," Optimus murmurs, awe and sadness turning his voice deeper than usual. "I never knew this about our history. The Primes and the originals of our race. Our beginning."

"There's no records?" There's no records of human early history either, but that's because humans didn't have a way of keeping records back then. She would have thought Cybertronians would have had it a lot easier, considering how advanced they are.

"None. I was an archaeologist before the war started, studying ruins scattered across Cybertron, along with the AllSpark."

Ari's chest clenches. None of the Autobots talk about their lives before the war, not even Sideswipe. Honestly, it's hard to imagine them being anything other than soldiers, that they had jobs and normal lives that never involved fighting.

She wonders if it's hard for them to imagine, now, too.

"What were you able to figure out?" she asks, drawing Optimus away from memories that only make him sad now.

He blinks, focusing back on her. "It's as you say. We traveled throughout the universe, looking for resources to perpetuate our race while also simply…."

"Exploring?"

He smiles. "Exactly. The universe is so big and so beautiful. Our ancestors wished to see as much as possible. But then something…happened. Something that I never found any specific record of, but it was something that endangered all life. Whatever it was, it was stopped, but at much sacrifice, enough to where those who came after had no memory of it."

Ari tries to take a peek, just out of curiosity. The history of the Cybertronians has always fascinated her. The door is easy to find, but when she touches the knob her mind is _forced_ out, pushed away by a gale of wind that leaves her mind spinning.

She groans, pressing her hand to her throbbing head. But with an image.

Purple optics, malicious and calculating.

"Ari," Optimus places a hand on her back, steadying her on her feet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she murmurs, brow furrowing as she tries to focus on that glimpse she got, those optics, trying to bring the rest of the face into focus. The harder she tries, the more it all fades into the fog. "The AllSpark won't let me see."

"But it is a part of our history. Why would having the knowledge matter?"

Ari's stomach twists, like it only ever does when something big is coming. Like it does with Unicron. "I get the feeling it's not as stuck in the past as you think it is."

This is part of everything. What happened to her at the sword pedestal, Death's warning, Unicron's return. It's all connected. She knows it.

But that's for later, much later. Unicron isn't here yet, while they still have a disaster to deal with right now.

They find the controls to the cages, opening the four they want. All four Cybertronians growl in anticipation and then burst out of the cages as soon as the bars are clear. Optimus snatches Ari out of the way of stampeding feet, watching as they tear out of the ship as fast as possible.

How long were they stuck in here?

Optimus follows them outside, Ari propped on his shoulder. They parked the ship in the middle of a field just outside the city, far away from roads. Ari's suddenly grateful for that, watching warily as the feral Cybertronians stalk back and forth, eying them like hungry tigers.

What did they just unleash?

The biggest one turns towards them, fists clenched and ready to charge.

"Optimus?" Ari whispers, suddenly not feeling so good about this plan.

The Cybertronian staggers as he charges, practically tripping over his feet. Optimus quickly sets her down and takes the brunt of the attack, shoving with his arm to push the bot away.

He falls to his knees, only to get back up again, fighting like his life depends on it. It probably has, all his life, since they were first taken. Even before, living out in the wild. But it doesn't have to be like that. Not anymore.

The Cybertronian prepares to charge again and Optimus spreads his feet, ready for a fight. But Ari steps in his way. "Let me."

"Are you sure?" he asks, optics flitting to the feral bots uneasily.

"Yeah, I am. I've got this."

Instincts guiding her, she reaches for the power of the AllSpark just as the Cybertronian begins another charge, sparks flowing down her arms with crackling energy. She raises her arms, hands pointed towards the bot that means to trample her.

The sparks shoot out at him, enveloping him in her power and stopping him dead on his feet. He fights against the energy, panicking, but she uses the AllSpark to create a temporary bond, connecting their minds together so that he can understand.

He feels so lost and confused and scared. No one ever explained what happened to him and the others. They just know that at one moment they were one thing, and then the next there was pain, and then they were turned into something else. They hardly remember the animals they once were, but the animal is still inside them, wishing to be free. Wishing to _live_.

But how can they live when they don't even know what they are?

"It's okay," she tells him softly, soothing him with her voice and with the AllSpark. He continues to struggle, writhing, trying to break free, but he looks at her, the wildness fading from his optics a little. "It's alright. I know you're scared. But you don't have to be anymore. You've been alone and confused and hurting for so long, but we've got you now. We can take care of you and help you. We can explain everything. You've just got to let us."

He stops struggling, hope beating down at her in desperate pulses. The other three look on in curiosity, and she can't help but wonder if they understand what she's saying.

But she can help them understand.

Closing her eyes, she moves one arm so the AllSpark energy can flow to encompass the other three Cybertronians as well. They accept the power willingly, connecting to her and, through her, the AllSpark.

And using the AllSpark, she gives them the information they need. Languages, history, the knowledge of what they are now and how it was done. She also tells them of what's going on now.

"We want you to live here," she tells them, feeding them her own hope, "with us. But there is a threat to our existence here. There are people just like you who want to destroy this planet we call home. Please, will you help us stop them?"

By way of answer, they transform, each of them shifting their parts until they take on the forms of the animals they once were: a Triceratops, a two-headed Pteranodon, a Spinosaurus, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex. They roar their agreement, huge beasts ready to fight for what they want. The _life_ they want.

Ari grins, pulling the AllSpark power away so they can use their new knowledge. "So, what do we call you?"

"Grimlock," the T-Rex grumbles, fire—real, fragging _fire—_ shooting out of this throat as he roars again.

"Slug," the Triceratops replies, while the Pterosaur says, "Strafe," and the Spinosaurus replies, "Scorn."

They have names for themselves. They were captured and tortured for who knows how long, but they managed to keep at least this for themselves.

"It's nice to meet you. Now come on, we've got a world to save."

"Are those real dinosaurs?" Darcy calls out from the gangplank of the ship, Phil and Jane standing behind her, dumbstruck. A weird device rests heavily in Jane's arms, like an oversized paintball gun. "And are they friendly, 'cause I kind of want to pet the T-Rex."

"Don' worry, that's just Darcy," Ari chuckles, looking up at the dinosaur Cybertronians as they shift uneasily on their feet. Her mouth screws up at that thought. Dinosaur Cybertronians is a mouthful, even in her head. They need a name, like Autobots.

Dinobots. Yeah, Dinobots sounds cool.

"So are they?" Darcy asks, the three of them stepping cautiously closer, Jane looking two seconds from darting back to the ship.

"Yeah, they're friendly," Ari reassures, not sure if she's talking about the Dinobots or Darcy.

Grimlock lowers his head to the ground, sniffing at Darcy curiously. Darcy, completely unfazed, reaches out a hand to pet his snout. She grins ecstatically. "This is so going on Facebook later."

"Please don't," Phil replies tiredly, giving her a withering look. "I will break out the NDAs if I have to."

"Oh, you're no fun," Darcy pouts, giving Grimlock one last pat before placing her hands on her hips. "So, did someone say something about saving the world?"

"My worm hole gun is finished," Jane supplies, hoisting the device higher in her arms. "It's not my best work, but it should still work."

"Should?" Phil asks, sounding a bit worried.

"I'm about eighty-five percent positive it won't blast us into a black hole."

Ari can't tell if she's joking or not, but decides not to ask. Better not to know.

"Right," she says, looking over the Dinobots questioningly. "Can you give us a ride?"

"What?" Phil deadpans, but Optimus doesn't give him the chance to argue. He picks the agent up while straddling the back of Grimlock, mounting him like horse. Ari moves to Slug's side and he lowers himself to the ground, making it easier for Ari, Darcy, and Jane to scramble onto his back. Ari sits near his head, Jane behind her with her device, and Darcy bringing up the rear.

Jane looks down at the ground as Slug gets to his feet again, licking her lips nervously. "Wouldn't a car be, you know, safer?"

"Probably," Ari chirps, slipping her fingers between gaps in the armor for handholds. "But this is faster. Alright, guys, let's roll out!"

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _So, yeah, liberties with that Dinobot history._

 _Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about the Dinobots, just what was in the movies, and even that isn't very good since the Bayverse is crap with continuity. So I just took what I knew, took what I changed of the Cybertronian's history already, and made it work. Hopefully it makes sense._

 _Got some hint-hints towards the knights and Quintessa. Primus, I can't wait to actually get my hands into all of that._

 _And the stuff with Darcy and Jane is thanks to...okay, I don't really remember who gave me the idea (so sorry about that) but it was a reviewer who mentioned something about Jane being able to control black holes or something in the Lego video game? I really wanted Jane and Darcy to be a part of the fight (considering Thor Ragnarok, I don't really see them just sitting it out) and I remembered that review and it just...spiraled from there. But I kind of like it._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	13. Honor to the End

_**Author's Note**_

 _ **Chapter 4 of 6 posted today**_

 _Alright, so final battle time, part two. Hydra's dealt with, time to take care of some robot and Cybertronian scum!_

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Honor to the End**_

The city is swarming with Stingers by the time they make it back to civilization, screaming and explosions everywhere. They dodge as much of it as they can, but they still meet resistance. The Dinobots plow their way through, Strafe soaring high above them providing air support.

Ari directs them towards Sideswipe, knowing getting to him, Joyce, and the Seed is the fastest way to end all of this. But she feels like they don't have a lot of time, a force pressing against her chest like she's watching a soccer ball fly towards her in slow motion.

It's going to hurt when it hits her, but there's no avoiding it.

They find Joyce and the N.E.S.T. soldiers holed up in a restaurant, firing through the windows while the rest of the Autobots and the Avengers try to keep a circle around the building, holding the Stingers back. They're surrounded with nowhere else to go.

Sideswipe calls out that he's almost out of ammo, getting shoved to the ground as a Stinger launches on top of him before he can get his swords out.

Ari sees red.

Carefully, she gets her feet beneath her, crouching atop Slug's back. Just as he charges past Sideswipe, eyes set on his own prize, Ari jumps off of the Dinobot's back. Darcy and Jane call after her, but she doesn't hear them, bringing her alien sword up while in midair.

She collides into the Stinger's back with a heavy _thump_ , plunging her sword into its back, slicing right through where the spark chamber should be. Even without a soul, it does the job, the Stinger making a strangled gurgle sound before slumping, offline.

Ari jumps to the ground as Sideswipe pushes the body off of him, rolling to his knees. She moves to his side quickly, pressing a hand to his faceplates ready to call upon her Healing mark if necessary. "You okay?" she asks, breath coming in short gasps as she wills her heart to calm down.

"I'm fine, sweetspark," he replies, pressing a kiss to her palm before looking over his shoulder at Grimlock taking a bite out of a Stinger. His brow goes up, impressed. "That's quite the cavalry."

"Optimus's idea, and a very long story. But they're on our side and they want to help."

"Well, that's good enough for me."

Hulk charges past them, plowing into a Stinger that was trying to sneak up on them. The Stinger tries to get back to its feet, a deep dent in its chassis but not done yet. Slug suddenly comes up from behind, taking a big bite out of the Stinger's head and munching happily, sparks spitting out from between his teeth.

Hulk stares for a second, mesmerized by the triceratops, and then grins like a little boy, letting out a big roar.

Slug gives an answering roar of his own and together they go off to smash more Stingers.

"Aww, Hulk made a friend," Darcy says, picking through the rubble towards Ari and Sideswipe, Jane and Phil trailing after her. Jane mutters to herself, pushing buttons on the device she carries furiously, but it doesn't so much as make a sound.

"So does that thing actually work?" Ari asks, kind of hoping the answer is no.

A rocket flies by just over her head, the explosive force behind her warming her back. She pulls out her gun, ducking behind some rubble, taking aim, and firing at the Stinger who almost hit her in one fluid motion.

Then again, a warp hole gun could come in handy right about now.

"This should be right," Jane mutters in frustration, completely oblivious to the battle around them. Darcy and Phil join Ari behind the pile of rubble as Sideswipe rejoins the fight with his blades, Jane just standing there as she stares at her device.

"Jane, get down!" Darcy hisses, grabbing the scientist by the hem of her shirt to pull her down with them.

"But it should be working," Jane says absently, poking a few buttons on the side of the machine. "I double-checked the calculations and it should be firing. Why isn't it firing?"

"We should have stayed on the ship," Phil says, drawing his own gun instead of pinching his nose in exasperation. "It's not too late to go back to the ship, is it?"

"Sorry, Phil, but I think it is." Ari holsters her glock, taking the sword back in her hands to transform it into a gun again. She fires at a nearby Stingers getting a bit too close to Natasha, looking down at the gun afterwards in appreciation. Nice response, and a single shot to the chassis takes a bot down instantly.

She _likes_ this gun.

"Ah ha!" Jane crows in delight, her own gun powering on with an ominous hum of power. She shoves it into Darcy's arms, the intern taking it dubiously as Jane pulls her phone out of her back pocket. "Darcy, you fire. I'll control the size and power of the wormholes with my phone."

"There's an app for that?" Darcy asks incredulously, hoisting the gun in her arms awkwardly and taking aim at the closest Stinger.

"It's not an app. I've connected the gun's controls wirelessly to my phone so one person doesn't have to do all the work."

"So, yeah, there's an app for that."

Jane rolls her eyes. "Just fire the fragging thing!"

Phil glances at them worriedly. "Are you sure about-?"

Darcy fires, the kickback sending her backwards out of her crouched position to land on her butt. A swirling ball of energy hurls through the air, landing in the middle of the Stinger's back. The energy pulses for a split second before expanding, a dark pit of spinning nothingness opening up in the center that sucks the Stinger in before it can so much as blink.

Jane taps at her phone, the wormhole blinking out of existence as soon as the last scrap of Transformer metal disappears.

They all blink owlishly where the Stinger used to be, Darcy's glasses hanging skewed on her face. She turns rounded eyes towards Jane, raising a shaking hand to push her glasses back up her nose. Then she grins. "That was fragging awesome!"

"Right." Jane takes a deep breath, a small, accomplished smile pulling at her lips. Her thumbs fly across her phone, adjusting on her haunches to look over their rubble pile. "Let's go again."

It all ends quickly after that.

Jane and Darcy and the Autobots and N.E.S.T. and the Avengers and the Dinobots all work together seamlessly, fighting around each other and with each other like they've been doing it for years. The number of Stingers finally starts to go down, those not fleeing ending up in smoking piles of scrap metal or blasted into the opposite end of space.

The calm descends abruptly, N.E.S.T. soldiers and Joyce poking their heads out of the restaurant hesitantly before streaming out into the eerily quiet street. Ari takes a headcount, not seeing anyone too bad off, but she does notice one absence that turns her stomach sour.

There's no sign of Megatron. Not among the retreating Stingers and not in the lifeless forms around them. He let his soldiers die while he got away, like the coward he is. He could be regrouping with the remaining Stingers, but she hopes maybe he gave up for today.

But there's always tomorrow.

"You," Optimus growls, glaring down at the group of humans with optics like boiling oil. He climbs down from Grimlock's back, stalking towards them.

The soldiers part, leaving Joyce in the line of fire. Optimus zeroes in on him with a fury she's rarely seen in him.

"Who?" Joyce stammers, voice dangerously close to a squeak as he clutches the Seed to his chest.

"You," Will repeats, pushing Joyce forward to take a couple stumbling steps closer to Optimus.

This man has a lot to answer for.

"Your science will be responsible for humanity's extinction," Optimus scolds, and Ari seriously can't tell if he's two seconds away from telling Joyce to go sit in timeout in a corner or if he's about to bite the man's head off.

Grimlock steps closer curiously, head lowered with his optics locked on Joyce gleefully.

"Alright," Joyce says, holding up his free hand calmly towards Optimus while eyeing Grimlock warily. "I know you're sensitive to this whole bioethical dilemma-"

"Maybe all he wants to hear you say is that some things should never be invented," Ari tells him, her own fury simmering low in her belly. "What you did was wrong, Joyce, on so many levels. An apology is the least you could do."

Grimlock roars in Joyce's face, making the man scream like a little girl about to wet her panties.

"Okay!" he screams. "Okay, I'm sorry!"

Optimus huffs in satisfaction, Grimlock standing back up with a smug tilt of his head. This conversation is far from over, but it's a start. "We'll lead you out of the city," Optimus says, gripping his sword tightly in his hand. "Get that Seed safely to the hills."

The Autobots transform into their alt modes, a couple soldiers jogging down the street to hotwire some cars to allow the Autobots to transform back in case they need to. Ari goes straight for Sideswipe, though, dragging Joyce with her. "Come on, get in."

"He almost ate me!" he hisses, clearly not amused as she holds back a chuckle.

"No, he didn't. You'd be missing a lot more than your hair if he did."

He runs his hand self-consciously over his mostly-bald head, allowing himself to be pushed into Sideswipe's passenger seat.

They drive through the city as fast as the destruction allows, civilians running for cover on the sidewalks. Panic and fear brim in the air, saturating the lungs and setting everyone into crazed motion. This is not their first alien invasion. It may not even be the last. The fear gets worse every time as they wonder—will they live through it this time? Will this ever end?

Ari doesn't have an answer for them. She can only protect as many people as she possibly can.

The _shinging_ of metal and sharp beeping drive her out of her thoughts. She looks to her right, at the Seed sitting in Joyce's lap

Parts of it have opened up, lights powering on and emitting a steady beeping.

Like a timer.

Ari swallows heavily, trying to stay calm and failing utterly as her voice raises in pitch. "What did you do?"

"I don't know," he stammers out, hovering his hands over the device cautiously. "I don't…I don't know, but it's an issue."

Understatement of the century. Does the AllSpark know how to diffuse a bomb?

"Did you press a button?"

"Is it gonna blow up?" Sideswipe asks, and she can feel him debating on tossing Joyce out.

Now, there's an idea.

"I don't know!" Joyce snaps, sweat trickling down his face.

"A bomb starts beeping, that means something bad, right?"

"I'm just saying that it's a," Joyce licks his lips nervously, placing shaking hands on the Seed to tilt it for a better look, "it's a steady blinking light, which could be a timer of some kind." He pauses, eyes lighting up as something clicks in his head. "Unless it's signaling location."

Ari stares down at the Seed numbly and then lifts her eyes to the sky, looking at it through the windshield like she can already see what's coming for them.

"Well, frag."

She really hoped they would have more time. And she wasn't expecting the tracker.

"What is it?" Joyce asks with rising panic. "What's coming?"

"Lockdown."

"What, you mean the crazy robot with the canon face that Galloway convinced to work for him?"

"If we can make it out of the city before he gets here, maybe we can outrun him," Sideswipe says hopefully, but not convincingly.

They turn a sharp right. Sideswipe slams on his breaks as Ari's heart tries to beat through her ribcage.

It's too late.

Lockdown's ship ghosts through the air just a few blocks away. The bottom of it has opened up to reveal some kind of large, circular machine with a spinning light. As the ship moves down the road, the machine sucks things up into the air, anything metal, like a massive magnet. Debris goes up, spins around, and then gets tossed back down to the ground, crushing anything unlucky enough to be in the way. Like a catapult, anything metal turning into a weapon.

And it's coming right for them.

"Back up, Sides," Ari says, quiet voice underrating how not okay this is. They are fragged. They are so fragged. "Sides, back up, now."

He punches it into reverse just before a ship propeller crashes down, slicing into the asphalt where they once were.

The Autobots transform around them, running after them while beating back the debris flung through the air. The vehicles with N.E.S.T. and the Avengers veer off down side streets, Sideswipe trying to do the same, but the ship follows them.

Fragging tracker.

An entire cargo ship goes barreling towards them, tossed like a little plastic toy, except this thing isn't little, it's massive and big enough to take out the entire block. Not even Optimus is big enough to block that.

Sideswipe takes a hard left, driving them right into a building through the storefront windows.

Heaving breaths echo in Sideswipe's interior.

Until small metal objects start levitating in the air around them.

"Oh, God," Joyce breathes.

Sideswipe gets yanked upward, jostling Ari and Joyce in their seats as the magnetic force of the ship above the building pulls them up against the ceiling.

"Out, out, everyone out!" Sideswipe yells at them, popping open his doors.

Ari and Joyce tumble out of Sideswipe's alt mode, Joyce clutching the Seed to his chest. But he doesn't stay on his feet for long. The magnet catches onto the Seed, pulling it up. And Joyce along with it.

"Pull me down, pull me down!" he screams, rotating wildly in the air as he tries to keep a hold of the Seed. His back hits the ceiling with a hard _thump_ , the Seed pressing into his chest as it tries to continue its journey up to the ship.

Ari jumps after him, wrapping her arms around his shins with her fingers digging into the slick fabric of his slacks. She grunts with the effort to hold on, hoping her added weight can bring him back down, but it's no use. This magnet sucked up an entire ship. The two of them weigh nothing compared to that.

"It's crushing me," Joyce grits out between his teeth, the Seed trying to push through him to keep going up. "C'mon, pull!"

All of a sudden, the magnet lets go, dropping them into an unceremonious heap on the floor. She winces in pain, Joyce landing on top of her with the Seed digging into her stomach. Her pain disappears in a flash as Sideswipe sends her alarm over the bond, her eyes flying back open. She shoves at Joyce, rolling them both over to narrowly avoid getting crushed underneath Sideswipe as he falls back to the floor as well with a sickening _crunch_.

His own pain blossoms across the bond, sending Ari scrambling to her feet and to his side.

" _You okay?"_ she asks with the bond, worry heightening as the pain only recedes a little. She holds her hands out to the side of his alt mode, sparks beginning to flow across her skin as her Healing mark lights up.

" _I've been better,"_ is his tense reply, and she wishes she could see his face right now, but there's no room for him to transform.

" _Hold on a moment and you'll be right as rain."_

She can feel Joyce boring holes in the side of her head with his bewildered look but she ignores him, focusing on healing Sideswipe as fast as possible. The AllSpark power crackles over him, finding the places that hurt, which are thankfully few. If he was a real car, that fall would have totaled him, but being Cybertronian makes him a lot more resilient.

A few seconds later, he's fully healed, roaring engines echoing the gratitude and reassurance pulsating over the bond. She sighs in relief, backing out of the destroyed building so Sideswipe can get out.

That had been close. There've been way too many close calls.

Looking back at the building they all almost just died in, she sees Joyce still stands in Sideswipe's way, gaping motionless at her. She sighs heavily, rolling her eyes while grabbing a fistful of his rumbled business jacket. "Come on, we've got places to be."

"But…." He stumbles after her, barely hanging onto the Seed as his feet catch on every little bit of rubble. "But…you just…what was…."

"If I hear one insulting word come out of your mouth, I'm going to take that Seed and leave you here."

He sags, equal parts weariness and desperation. "Please, do me a favor."

"It'll be by knocking you out so hard you won't feel it when a Transformer stomps on you."

That gets him to clamp his mouth shut, finally.

Ari peers up at the sky, the ship several blocks away and smoking slightly from the super magnet at the bottom. Nothing else floats up beneath it, the machine no longer spinning or lit up. She reaches for her ear comm. "Someone manage to take the magnet out?"

::That would be me,:: Optimus replies, a grim edge to his voice that she doesn't like. ::It should be safe for you to get the Seed out of the city.::

::What about the remaining Stingers?:: John asks. ::I still see a lot of them crawling around.::

::We can take care of those,:: Steve suggests. ::Ari, you and N.E.S.T. just focus on the Seed. We'll handle the rest.::

::And I will draw Lockdown away to buy you time,:: Optimus adds.

"Don't, Optimus," Ari says, shaking her head even though he can't see it. "Not by yourself."

::You feel it is your responsibility to take care of Hydra. I must deal with Lockdown. I am the one he is after. I must end this.::

"That doesn't mean you have to do it alone." No reply. She grits her teeth together, pressing harder on the comm like that actually makes any difference. "Optimus? Optimus!"

She feels Sideswipe roll up, transforming into his bipedal form to kneel beside her. "What do you want to do?" he asks, but he already knows the answer.

This is them they're talking about. They face the impossible every day. But they don't face it alone.

She shoots him a grin, slightly crazed, but they live on crazy. "We go after him, of course."

"You're not serious, are you?" Joyce asks, looking about ready to fall over either in exhaustion, fear, or simple bewilderment at their supposed recklessness.

"He's family," she answers simply. "And family means nobody gets left behind."

"Or forgotten," Sideswipe adds, barely containing a chuckle.

Joyce glowers. "This isn't a Disney movie, kid."

"No frag," she deadpans, turning her head at the sound of approaching engines. Oh, good, their backup is back. They know her so well. "This is war, and unlike you, I've actually fought before." Ironhide and Ratchet come into view around a corner, screeching to a halt so close to them Joyce scrambles away a bit. She smirks. "So you're going to get out of here. Get the Seed and yourself somewhere safe. We've got this."

Ironhide's door pops open for him but Joyce simply stands there, somberly looking between her and Sideswipe. He opens his mouth, closes it again, and then utters, "I truly am sorry for everything. None of this would have happened if it weren't for me."

Now there's something she thought she'd never see out of him. Sincerity, and true regret. But she shakes her head. "Doesn't really matter. It was Hydra. If they didn't have you making Transformers, they would have come up with some other crazy plan to take over the world. Probably flying death machines or something like that. And Lockdown was never on you. He would have been after Optimus one way or another, with or without you and Hydra."

He nods slowly, still grimacing. "Still…I'm sorry."

She pushes at his shoulder, shoving him lightly towards Ironhide. "If that's true, then get out of here."

He nods, placing a hand on the open door. "Good luck."

He drives off with Ironhide and Ratchet to meet up with the others while Sideswipe returns to his alt mode, door open invitingly. "You ready for this?" he asks as she slips into the driver's seat.

"Let's do it," she nods, door slamming shut and seat belt clicking into place, the both of them zooming towards Optimus's location.

Tense silence follows them, filled only with the rev of Sideswipe's engine and the distant explosions of the Avengers still fighting Stingers. Ari breathes deeply through her nose, trying to calm her racing heart. Fear grips at her. She's been in fights before. It's one Cybertronian against her, Sideswipe, and Optimus. This guy can't be any tougher than Megatron.

And yet her stomach twists into painful knots. This isn't an ordinary fight. She knows it, somehow. This fight means more than saving Optimus or the city. Or even saving the world.

Defeating Lockdown is more important than any fight she's ever faced before.

" _What is it, Ari?"_ Sideswipe asks, her fear feeding his own. She doesn't want to worry him but there's no hiding from him. They carry their worries together. A blessing and a curse.

" _Something's coming, Sides,"_ she answers quietly, like someone can hear them even across the bond. _"I've been feeling it for a while."_

" _You mean Unicron?"_

" _I don't know. Maybe. But it feels bigger than that."_

" _Unicron wants to destroy everything. What could be worse than that?"_

She doesn't know. And she's terrified of finding out.

They find Optimus facing Lockdown in some kind of old factory, maybe an industrial site. It reminds her of when she saw Sideswipe transform for the very first time with huge buildings, heavy machinery, and concrete silos. Just like back then, she worries about people still being inside, but then shakes her head. Everyone must be long gone by now, since the battle in the city started.

At least, she hopes no one sticks around for this. No matter how "epic" it would be to get shaky video footage of two aliens duking it out.

Optimus draws his sword, slashing at Lockdown left and right, but he dodges easily. Like a veteran fighter. But if he never participated in the Autobot-Decepticon Civil War, then how is he a fighter? Where did he learn those skills?

Where has he been using them all this time?

Sideswipe skids to a halt several meters away from them but they don't so much as glance over, too busy grappling with each other. Ari steps out of Sideswipe's alt mode, the air shifting behind her as he transforms into his bipedal form. With her sparkmate standing at her back and her friend in trouble in front of her, she raises her alien gun, aims, and fires.

The blast catches Lockdown in the shoulder, knocking him off Optimus and catching his attention.

"Who are you?" Ari calls out, gun poised to blast him again if she needs to. For now, he's at least distracted enough to allow Optimus to roll away and get to his feet again, sword gripped in both hands.

"If you do not know my name by now," Lockdown gets to his feet as well, wearing a cocky smile that somehow reminds her of Galloway, "then you are even more pathetic than I thought, human."

She shakes her head impatiently. "I know your name, Lockdown." He actually blinks in surprise at that. He really didn't expect her to know. "But that's not what I'm asking. _Who_ are you? Who do you work for? Why are you here? How did you avoid the war on Cybertron?"

He sniffs haughtily, like an aristocrat speaking to a peasant. "And why should I tell you? You have no right to know. This has nothing to do with you."

"I do have a right to know." Shouldering her gun, she rolls up her left sleeve, revealing her AllSpark marks. "Primus gave me a right to know."

"Impossible," he breathes, wide optics brimming with disbelief and disgust. He spits out, "The AllSpark! What did you do to it?"

"I destroyed its last vessel in order to defeat a Decepticon. The power then transferred into me. _I_ am the AllSpark now, making me as much a part of this fight as any of you."

Lockdown growls, arm turning into a blaster he then levels at her. "You lie!"

"I don't!"

Reaching inside herself, she draws the AllSpark to the surface. Blue sparks crackle along her skin as her AllSpark mark glows brightly, giving him just a taste of what she's capable of.

Still, he looks ready to protest again, and so she slips off her Autobot pendant for good measure, the one that hides her AllSpark energy signature. There's no real change that she can feel. Not in herself. Not in the air. Just that Lockdown's arm falls to hang limply at his side to stare at her.

No denying that. Nothing has a power quite like the AllSpark. It is unique in so many ways and it is _hers_ to control.

And despite what others may think, even herself, she is worthy of that power.

"Who do you work for?" she demands, the queen to his aristocrat. "Primus wouldn't want any of this. He wouldn't have given me the AllSpark and the mission of stopping the Decepticons if he was just going to send you to round up all his creations. And he definitely wouldn't have sent someone so filled with hate for anything other than himself. So what did you mean when you said your 'creators' sent you?"

"Primus is not our only creator," Lockdown answers numbly, shock making him slack-jawed, his voice pliant by just enough.

"Do you mean Unicron?"

"Yes, but...Primus and Unicron did not actually make Cybertronians. After the battle, they gave the task of creation to another."

Okay, that does sound familiar. Primus and Unicron started to make the universe. Unicron despised it and tried to destroy everything. Him and Primus fought. Primus made the seven original Primes to help him stop Unicron. Unicron was defeated, and then Primus gave the AllSpark to the Primes to pick up where he left off.

"So are you talking about the Primes then?"

Although, all of them are dead. And she's sure of it this time.

Lockdown's face screws up in distaste. "No. They made a handful of our race—those who started the Prime lineage—but it was another who brought the Cybertronian species into being."

Another? She had never heard of another. True, the history of the Cybertronian race is something the AllSpark keeps under tight lock and key—she barely even knows anything of the original Primes—but she never suspected there was even more to the story.

An images flashes across her mind again, of purple optics. Purple optics staring out at a barren landscape covered in metal.

Cybertron.

"Who? Who is your creator?"

Lockdown opens his mouth as if to answer, but then he scowls, shaking his head furiously. "Enough talk. You won't live long enough for it to matter anyway."

Lockdown raises his blaster again, ready to fire. Sideswipe reaches down to snatch her out of the way, but Optimus is faster. He shoves into Lockdown's side, toppling them both to the ground. His sword clatters away and he scrambles to his feet, reaching out for it.

But Lockdown grabs it first.

"No!" Ari screams as Lockdown impales the sword through Optimus's chassis, the blade going clean through. Optimus falls backwards with the force of the blow, crying out in pain as Lockdown then pins him to the wall of the silo right behind him.

"You saved the human instead of saving yourself?" Lockdown shakes his head in disappointment. "You bring shame upon us all."

A snarl tears its way out of Ari's throat as she brings her Cybertronian gun up and fires. Repeatedly, over and over again, taking Lockdown by surprise as she hits him in the shoulder.

"Stay away from him, you big ugly psycho!"

She feels Sideswipe coil beside her before launching himself forward, clashing with Lockdown to get him away from Optimus. Keeping a safe distance away, Ari fires at Lockdown whenever she sees an opening, shooting between blades and limbs and suddenly glad Ironhide insisted she spend so much time at the shooting range.

But Lockdown is strong and bigger than Sideswipe and it doesn't take long until Sides gets tossed to the ground like a rag doll.

Ari shoots furiously, pushing Lockdown back and giving Sideswipe time to get back on his feet again, but they are seriously outmatched. They need Optimus.

She glances over her shoulder at him, still pinned against the silo and struggling to get the sword out without accidentally taking out his spark chamber as well. He needs help. She sees it, maybe. A tow truck parked not far away. If she can get the chain hooked around the sword, maybe the truck can pull it out.

But if she turns her back on this fight for even a second, she knows she and Sideswipe will be done before they know what hits them.

An engine revs angrily, drawing all of their eyes to Sunstreaker barreling into the factory grounds. He skids to a stop long enough for Lina to climb out of his alt mode, and then he transforms to join Sideswipe in the fight.

Ari shakes her head, wanting to be angry but unable to keep the small smile off her face.

"You never listen," she chastises lightly as Lina runs up to her, keeping her eyes on the three battling bots and continuing her own assault. "Whatever happened to staying with Nick at the Triskelion?"

"Long story," Lina huffs, like she's been running for miles. "Stingers attacked the Triskelion. We got out in time in the helicopter, but the building is a little...broken now."

She spares her a curious glance. "How broken?"

"Like, missing some pretty big pieces kind of broken. But, you know, they needed to redecorate anyway."

Ari snorts, taking a shot at Lockdown's head but he twists at the last second and she misses. Slaggit.

"Anyway, we met up with the others and then I made Sunstreaker bring me here. Though he didn't put up much of a fight. Like we'd really leave you guys hanging."

Ari really can't decide if she wants to scold her or hug her. Because, really, they do need help. And it's not like she can send them away now.

She watches the fight, making sure Sides and Sunny can handle things, before turning away to face Lina completely. "Do you know how to hot wire a car?"

Lina grins. "Of course. Sunny showed me how."

Ari rolls her eyes. Somehow she's not surprised.

They run over to the tow truck, Lina working on getting it started while Ari grabs the truck's tow chain. She pulls, using her enhanced strength to run the end of the heavy chain over to Optimus.

"Ari," he grunts, pushing at the hilt but unable to get enough leverage to loosen it. "You should just get out of here. This is my fight."

She doesn't even spare him a glance at the ridiculous statement, tossing the chain hook over the sword and then hooking it in one of the chain links to secure it in place. "Not happening, big guy. We do this together."

Yanking on the chain one last time to make sure it will stay and catch on the hilt, she calls out to Lina, "Drive!"

Gravel spits out from the truck tires as Lina punches it, chain going taunt as she speeds away. The truck jerks to a standstill, tires spinning as it pulls at the sword. It gives, a few inches at a time, but it slowly starts to come loose.

Sunny crashes to the ground with a strangled grunt, hand going up to his side where energon spills through his fingers. Ari rushes to him, confident Lina will have Optimus free in a few moments. Sparks tinge at her fingertips as she heals him quickly, watching him get back up on steady legs before rounding on Lockdown.

No one hurts her brother and gets away with it.

Pulling her makeshift strap around to bring her gun back in her hands, she fires, hitting Lockdown again and again. He looks at her like she's an annoying mosquito buzzing around his head but it gets his focus away from Sideswipe so he can get back to his feet as well. He's not hurt—she can tell with the bond—but it was close.

She keeps firing, Sides and Sunny jumping back into the fray, but they barely put a dent in Lockdown's armor. He's just so fast. Lockdown kicks out at Sunstreaker, sending him to the ground again, before going low at Sideswipe. He catches Sides in his legs, tossing him clear over his shoulder.

Ari winces at his pain, but only gets a few steps before Lockdown suddenly spins on her.

She scrambles to fire but Lockdown snatches the gun out of her arms, crushing it into scraps in his hand.

Frag. She liked that gun.

"You see my face," Lockdown rumbles, pointing his blaster at her, "your life is done."

The breath barely catches in Ari's throat before the blade of Optimus's sword pushes through the center of Lockdown's chassis from behind. Lockdown's optics go wide with surprise, energon spilling out of the corners of his mouth. Optimus savagely pulls the sword up, slicing Lockdown clear in half from the waist up.

He flops to the ground, completely offline, with Optimus standing over him in grim victory.

"Honor to the end," Optimus states proudly, more to himself than anyone else. But the words are true. Lockdown may not have approved of what Optimus has been doing on Earth. Associating with humans. Protecting them. But whatever Lockdown was planning, _he_ was the one who was wrong.

But they still don't know what that plan was.

This fight may be over, but that _something_ still hangs in the air, rife with far too many questions they don't know the answers to. Who was he working for? Who is the Cybertronian with the purple optics? How are they still on Cybertron and no one even knew about it?

Death's warning rings in Ari's ears as she watches energon pool beneath Lockdown's body. Unicron is coming.

But he isn't alone.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _And that takes care of that. Ari's left with more questions than answers, but at least this fight is over._

 _Time to deal with the aftermath._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	14. After the Fall

**_Author's Note_**

 ** _Chapter 5 of 6 posted today_**

 _Honestly, this chapter feels a little wayward to me, but my epilogue was getting too long. It's basically just them trying to figure out how to deal with Hydra and pick up the pieces in the aftermath. There's a lot of mess, and none of this is going to be easy._

 _Especially since one of their own is leaving._

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **After the Fall**_

They meet back up with the others, N.E.S.T., the Autobots, the Avengers, Fury. Everyone gathers together outside the rubble of the Triskelion. The building did not survive this fight unscathed, one wall completely missing like a huge doll house. Lina sure wasn't kidding about it being a little broken.

But they aren't.

They're a little beat up and bruised. They have scratches and scrapes. But they're mostly okay. They made it to the other side of this nightmare alive and they're still capable of moving along through the next one.

And there is a next one. This is all far from over.

They slump down on the steps in front of the Triskelion, the Autobots' bipedal forms sitting on the ground around them. It's strangely quiet in the aftermath. Either all the agents have already fled, or they're holed up inside still somewhere. Ari's just glad there isn't any shooting anymore.

"So now what?" Sam asks on a sigh, sounding as tired as they all feel. When was the last time they weren't on their feet? It feels like forever ago that this all started and all they want is a moment of peace.

Police sirens wail across the city, red and blue reflecting in the water along with the setting sun as the authorities race across the bridge to the Triskelion's little island in the middle of the river.

"We deal with...that," Ari replies, waving a tired hand vaguely at the approaching police and rescue vehicles. With a deep groan, she leverages herself to her feet, taking a few steps forward to meet their welcome party. Fury moves to stand as well but she shakes her head with a small smile. "It's alright, Nick. I've got this."

He gives her a pointed glare, getting to his feet anyway. "It's my mess. I'll clean it up."

Well, she can't really begrudge him that. Especially when she feels the same. "How about we do it together?"

The first officer to come up goes straight to Fury anyway. Annoying, but not unexpected, since she still looks like a teenager and always will. But she lets it go for now and simply listens since the officer already looks a bit overwhelmed.

He looks over the destruction, rounded eyes darting to the surrounding Autobots every few seconds. Their presence makes him swallow heavily, Adam's-apple bobbing in his throat. "Is the, uh," he glances to the Autobots again, hand hovering over his gun and making Ari stiffen, "is the situation under control?"

Fury rolls his one good eye. "We're among friendlies here. At least when it comes to the aliens."

"But, sir, the reports stated that hostile robots were coming out of this building. Are you sure they-"

"The Autobots aren't the bad guys here," Ari states, trying so hard not to snap.

"And how do we know that?" the officer replies, hand fully resting on his gun with narrowed eyes. "All of you are wanted fugitives. For all I know, you're the ones behind this."

It's a logical conclusion, one she tries not to let frustrate her. Or, at least, she tries to bury her frustration so she doesn't take it out on him. It's not his fault Hydra fooled everyone. "No, the ones who labeled us fugitives in the first place are the ones behind this. We're the ones who _stopped_ this mess."

"But—"

"Look, did you see the info dump?" She waits until he nods warily before continuing. "Then you know who was behind this."

A muscle in his jaw twitches as his jaw clenches, eyes flickering over to Captain America watching them wearily from the steps. "Hydra. They're really still…around?"

"They are. And they made everyone think we're the bad guys so they could try to get away with mass murder." Her voice softens as he gulps, knowing this isn't going to be easy for anyone. Hydra is like the boogeyman. They all grew up knowing about them and fearing them, but never actually seeing them. They never really thought they truly would. But now it's time to face the monster hiding in the closet. "Look, Hydra's been hiding in plain sight all this time. They burrowed their way into every form of authority you could possibly think of. Some of them are probably even your friends."

He stiffens, trying not to glance around them at the gathering crowd of officers and rescue workers, but failing. "Then what do we do?"

Ari hesitates, a little off kilter at the question. Though, not really the question, more that the question gets directed at her. Her and not Fury. It reminds her that this guy probably has no idea who Fury is. No one knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. and the kind of power Fury holds. She's the only one of _known_ authority here.

And Fury doesn't help her. He just stares at her expectantly, just like everyone else, content to let her take the lead.

Ari's fingers tap against her thigh, thinking quickly as she looks back at the Triskelion. How do they know who to trust? These people, the Hydra agents, they need to be taken in, arrested, brought to justice. Put in prison so they can't hurt anyone else ever again.

But how do they know who is Hydra and who is not? How do they even know if they can trust these police officers? What if the police take them in and let all the Hydra agents go because they, too, are Hydra? She knows the corruption runs deep, the AllSpark showed her that much.

Then again, it showed her a lot more, too. It showed her all of Hydra. Everything it's done. It was overwhelming before, but maybe now that she knows what she's looking for….

The door opens of its own accord, already knowing what she wants. Ready and willing to help. She looks around at the faces surrounding her, searching for those same faces within her knowledge. Trying to find out how many of these officers are Hydra.

To her surprise, most of them are okay. Hydra might be going to ground after their enormous failure and ousting of their organization. There are a few Hydra agents walking among them, though, who will have to be taken care of as quietly as possible.

But she thinks they can do it. With her knowledge, she thinks she can weed out the bad from the good.

She breathes in deeply—only a few seconds having past within her doors—and turns back to the officer in front of her. One of the good ones, thankfully. An honest man to put in charge of capturing the worst of mankind to walk the earth in a long time.

Ari gets them organized, subtlety making sure anyone Hydra never gets left alone while the officers round up the agents left in the Triskelion. They're held temporarily in one of the rooms of the Triskelion that's both large enough and still intact enough to securely hold anyone looking to make a break for it. With only the one entrance, she places a few trustworthy officers at the door to act as guards and then walks through the room herself to sift through this mess.

Sorting the good from the bad turns out to be surprisingly easy. It only takes her a second of studying someone's face to tell in they hold a place within her door of Hydra information. Once someone gets cleared, she releases them from holding, playing it off to the officers as if she's using the information dump to figure out who's who.

Really, they could do it that way. All the same information is there, though maybe with a few less details. But Ari's way is faster.

Once enough agents get cleared, she puts them into Phil's care with the task of separating the corrupted officers from everyone else. S.H.I.E.L.D. may be in shambles with their authority effectively destroyed, but they can't risk anyone getting away. Or helping others get away.

Fury comes up to them then, making Ari realize for the first time that he had disappeared sometime around when they were first approached. Actually, she hasn't seen any of the others for a while, not even Sideswipe. Her brow furrows in confusion, head cocking to the side as she asks him a silent question.

His brow ticks up in amusement. "You didn't seem like you needed the help after all. You've handled all this pretty well."

"Well," Ari rubs the back of her head sheepishly, glancing around before muttering softly, "it helps when you have insider knowledge."

"I thought as much, which is why I kept the others busy helping rescue workers out in the city."

Ari nods thoughtfully, tuning into her bond with Sideswipe. He feels tired but content, happy with the work he's doing. "It's good for them," she muses. "To help clean up after watching it all get destroyed. Plus, it lets the people get a look at the heroes of the day. Maybe it'll help them not be so quick to criticize the Autobots, or even the Avengers. They don't need people trying to place all the blame for this on them."

"I thought so, too, but now it's time you lot got some rest."

She shakes her head with a frown. "But there's still so much work to do."

"The police can take it from here. You've just about went through all of the agents who were here. The rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. can wait until after you've taken a break."

"But what about the Hydra agents? Especially the ones who showed up with the police and rescue workers. We've got them cordoned off, but we still need to deal with them without it sounding like we're just throwing accusations around."

There's already been lots of yelling. Thankfully, the room their being kept in is soundproof.

"You let me worry about that," Fury says, placing a hand on her shoulder to lead her away. She goes, reluctantly, but every step she takes seems to get harder, heavier, as her exhaustion starts to make itself known. "I've got some contacts in the FBI to give me a hand."

"Need me to vet them?"

He wordlessly hands her his phone, allowing her to flip through the FBI personnel files. She scrolls quickly, running the faces through her head and only stops at one. "Not him," she tells him firmly, handing the phone back for Fury to see.

He curses under his breath, tucking the phone back in his leather jacket. "And I really thought he was one of the good guys."

"We're bound to be getting a lot of surprises like that," she warns him, chest tightening at the prospect of going through her own soldiers. She tried to be thorough in the selection process after Anti-Alien, but what if her efforts weren't enough?

He sighs deeply, the pain etched across his face making him appear years older than he tries to be. She almost asks if he's alright, if he needs to go rest his injuries, but…this pain is not physical. "I guess it's better to know, right?"

"Even if we don't like the answers," she agrees as they step out of the building, the sun just a fading orange memory on the horizon now. Right away, she catches sight of her ride, the red and blue of Optimus's alt mode catching in the twilight. Odd. She expected Sideswipe.

"He wanted to talk to you," Fury supplies before she can ask, gently pushing her towards the semi alt mode. "Go. Rest up. Take care of your own people. I'll contact you tomorrow to set up your meeting with the UN."

That's another can of worms she doesn't want to think about right now. Dealing with Hydra comes first. Answering to the world for what happened can be worried about later. They'll want answers, sooner rather than later, but they're just going to have to wait a few days. They first need to make sure the world really is safe from Hydra.

Plus, she wants a more solid plan for what comes next. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, but they did a lot of necessary work, work someone needs to pick back up and continue.

Maybe her knowledge about Hydra will be of some help.

She nods, squeezing his hand in thanks since a hug would just hurt him right now, and then tiredly clambers into Optimus's cab. He tucks the seatbelt around her, shifting into gear and getting them on the road with a silence that speaks volumes.

Especially with the Seed on the bench seat right next to her.

"So Joyce made it out okay?" she asks, putting off the impeding conversation for a little while longer.

"He did," Optimus answers, a bit of his earlier anger returning, though lessened somewhat. "He apologized profusely before handing the Seed over to me."

"He got played just like the rest of us."

"But what he did to my people was wrong," Optimus rumbles, like a building hurricane.

"I'm not saying it wasn't. I'm just saying that…people will do some pretty bad things for what they think are the right reasons. And Hydra made him believe he was doing everything right. After meeting you guys and seeing the consequences of his actions firsthand, I think he's learned his lesson. That doing things for the right reasons doesn't make it right."

"Then do we just leave him be?"

Ari mulls it over in her head, not really sure what the right answer is here. Sure, he's learned his lesson. But he willingly and knowingly did something wrong. "Joyce will answer for what he's done. He broke our treaty in the most horrific way. A new treaty will probably need to be made with the United Nations, and I'll make sure they know exactly how all of this was allowed to happen. And then we'll just…take it from there."

She knows it's not just her decision to make. The UN and the Autobots will have to do that themselves, but she'll help however she can. They'll just need to take it one step at a time.

The thing is, Optimus isn't going to be here to help them.

"You're leaving," she whispers somberly, staring down at her lap as she plays with her fingers, "aren't you."

"I must find out the truth, Ari," he answers just as quietly, like speaking softly will somehow soften the blow. But it doesn't. It still feels like someone steals the breath right out of her. "We need to find out who Lockdown was working for."

She nods, the image of purple optics flickering across her mind again. "And whoever they are is still on Cybertron. But they want to capture you. Is going alone really a good idea?"

"I am the only one capable. We have no ship and I am the only one with flight capabilities."

"Can't you just wait for the answers to come to us?" she asks desperately, tears making her throat close up, breath shuttering in and out of her. "Maybe now that everything else is over, the AllSpark will let me see more. I can try again and—"

"No, Ari."

"But I'll do better this time, I promise."

"Ari," he says firmly, voice coming from beside her this time. The finger of his holoform curls under her chin, lifting her face to look at him with watery eyes. But she can still see his soft, sad smile. "Ari, you have done nothing wrong. I already told you that. This is not about you and the AllSpark. I _need_ to see it for myself. I can feel it."

It sits right in her chest, too, making her hate the idea even more. She doesn't want him to leave in order to get the answers. She doesn't want him to face it on his own.

But maybe this is why she hasn't been able to see before. It needs to be seen, in person. On Cybertron.

She releases herself from the seatbelt, closing the distance between them and flinging her arms around his neck. "I'll miss you," she whispers into his shoulder, burrowing her face into the soft leather of his jacket.

"I'll miss you, too, Ari," he replies, voice rumbling in her ear as his strong arms enfold her in an embrace that always feels like home. "But it will not be forever. And when I return, I will have answers for us."

"What about Elita?" she sniffles, knowing it's a low blow but…she really doesn't want him to go.

"I've already spoken to her and she understands. She will be in charge of the Autobots in my stead." He pulls back slightly, enough to look her in the eye. Lifting one hand, he thumbs away her tears. "I know the both of you will do well to look after the others, and take care of the rest of Hydra."

"You really think so?"

This still feels like it's all her fault, Hydra getting as bad as it did. Will she really be able to get rid of them once and for all, plus make sure they never come back again?

Optimus smiles, eyes shining with the light of his confidence. "I know you can do it. And even though I won't be here to help you, you are still not alone."

He's right. She has Sideswipe and Sunstreaker and Elita. She has her parents and Rob and her friends at N.E.S.T., not to mention all of the Avengers and Phil and Fury. She has so many people at her back. Even if they didn't have the AllSpark, she knows they can do this.

She leans forward again, hugging him, this time with a smile. "You're right. We'll be able to pick ourselves back up again. And we'll be able to build something new out of the ashes, something to protect the people of the world the right way. Something you'll be proud of when you get back."

He chuckles, holding her closer. "I have no doubt."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _So the AllSpark is going to help them get rid of Hydra. Insider knowledge really does come in handy, doesn't it? Honestly, I hated how they decided to just do away with SHIELD and everything (in the movie verse anyway) since it still did a lot of good. The Avengers can take care of the entire world all by themselves. But hopefully with Ari's ability to sniff out the bad, they'll be able to build something like SHIELD, something new, to take its place. Something all of them can be proud of._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


	15. Epilogue

_**Author's Note**_

 _ **Chapter 6 of 6 posted today**_

 _Well, this is it, my friends. Time to wrap things up._

 _It's been one heck of a ride._

 _Go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Epilogue**_

Optimus leaves a few days later, after making sure they get settled safely back at the D.C. N.E.S.T. facility. He takes the Seed with him, intent on tossing it into deep space where it will never be found, wings extending from his back as he launches himself towards the stars.

Towards Cybertron.

She keeps watching until he disappears completely, wondering how long it will be until she sees him again. Any amount of time feels too long, too long to go without such a large piece of her family.

Sideswipe holds her tightly in his arms, warm metal keeping the slight chill of the predawn air at bay. "You think he'll be okay?" he asks, nuzzling against the top of her head.

"He's Optimus," she replies simply, tipping her face up to press a kiss to his lips, taking comfort as much as giving it. "Of course he'll be okay. It's the rest of us I'm really worried about."

Going forward isn't going to be easy. The world is hurting and there's still plenty of evil in the world no doubt taking advantage. But there is a plan.

"You ready to go, squirt?" Tony calls up to her, shifting impatiently at Sideswipe's feet in one of his expensive suits and hundred-dollar sunglasses. The rest of the Avengers stand behind him, along with Will and Phil, all dressed in their very best. "We need to hit the road if we're gonna make it to New York in time."

They're meeting up with Fury. At the United Nations. To discuss what's happened and the best course of action for ensuring a safer future. Ari plucks at her pencil skirt, insanely nervous even though this isn't the first time she's met with bigwigs. This time, though, feels different. It's not the World Security Council, which she dealt with for years. This is the UN, the biggest congregation of leaders in the world.

And it's completely in the open. No more hiding. No more secrets.

But, to Ari, that's actually a _good_ thing.

"You still sure about this?" Steve asks, tugging at the neck of his tie uncomfortably. "I know I'm still learning and all, but dealing with the UN sounds like it'll be a headache more than an actual help."

"They do take a while to make any kind of decision," Sam agrees. He stuck around after everything that went down. He could have gone back to his quiet life. He could have hung up his wings for the last time.

Instead, the team brought him in as an official Avenger. Because any man willing to stand up for what's right when he doesn't have to can do a lot of good in the world. And he seems very willing to keep doing it.

"We can't just go barging in to any country we want any time there's trouble," Ari reminds them, for what feels like the thousandth time. Steve has a big heart, but he would rather ask for forgiveness than permission. Which would get them into trouble in the long run. "Would you like it if random strangers barged into your home? It's the same concept of police needing a warrant before they can just go onto private property. Sure, they're just trying to do their jobs and help people, but if they're given free reign, it would be easy to abuse that kind of power. Even if they don't mean to."

"It's not like we'll be like that though. We're not bullies."

"A lot of people will understand that. But not everyone. We need everyone on our side, Steve, we need to listen to their wishes in this, or else they'll end up fighting against us."

"Look, punk," Bucky interrupts before Steve can argue more, clapping his friend on the shoulder. He looks a lot better now, healthier, with a clean-shaven face and his hair trimmed to a little below his chin. There are still ghosts in his eyes but at least the shadows seem less now. "Ari knows what she's doing. It won't be the whole UN you'll be dealing with in the end, anyway, but a new Council. It'll be fine after you work out the kinks. And Ari'll make sure Hydra or anything like it won't ever come back."

That's the plan, anyway. But it'll be a long road.

They first have to make it through the witch hunt. All their secrets are out there, not just Hydra's. Making things especially precarious for agents like Clint and Natasha. The world didn't know they employ spies. Assassins. They'll see killers. Murderers. Ari needs to make sure they understand what the alternative would have been.

The world needs them—the Avengers, N.E.S.T., S.H.I.E.L.D., the Autobots. They stand between the people of the world and all the evil out there. Maybe their methods are questionable, but if the alternative is the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people?

They'll make the hard choice. The ugly choice. Because, with the kind of evil they face on a _daily_ basis, you can't stop that with hugs and kind words. Doesn't mean they won't try—they're not monsters, after all—just that they're willing to do what's necessary.

This group of people, soldiers, warriors, aliens, humans, enhanced. Avengers. They're necessary so that everyone else can be safe. So that the world doesn't fall under the weight of the evil it carries.

Once the UN sees that necessity, Ari will make her move. She'll urge them—force them if she has to—to make a new organization to defend the Earth from all the bad everyone else doesn't know about. And this time it'll be all of them working together under the same name. The UN can have their oversight if they want to, but she will fight for as much autonomy as they're willing to give her.

Though it won't be just her. Phil will be one of their organization's leaders as well, Fury deciding to step back to let them lead the world into something new. Something better.

And, she suspects, he wants to take the time to do some Hydra hunting of his own.

So they'll have the S.H.I.E.L.D. side for the humans and the N.E.S.T. side for the aliens, sharing the weird and strange that doesn't fit into either category. The Autobots and Avengers will be special task forces of sorts, brought in for the dangerous things no one else can face.

Together, they can do this. They've just got to get the people to let them.

And if they won't? If the UN tries to arrest them all or put a yoke on their necks that's more of a shackle? Well, she's not above using some alien muscle. Including her own. Her inability to age makes telling them about the AllSpark necessary for the long run—she's not going to pretend to be a different person every couple decades—so they will _know_ the kind of knowledge available to her.

And they'll know she's not afraid to use it.

Bucky's right. There will be a lot of kinks to work out. But they can do it, she has no doubt.

"Come on, Steve," Natasha tells him, looping her arm through his and dragging him towards Ironhide's alt mode. "You worry too much. We'll get this worked out just fine."

They split off among the Autobots going with them. Tony and Bruce go with Jazz. Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Sam with Ironhide. Thor, Will, and Phil with Elita, and then Ari with Sideswipe, of course. Lina stays behind with Sunstreaker—since they have a lot to work out—Rob is in charge of what remains of N.E.S.T.—they really didn't do too bad, in the end, with only a handful of Hydra plants—and Jane and Darcy need to get back to their science.

But Bucky lingers behind, too.

He's dressed up in a suit as well, since Steve asked him to come, but Ari notices his steps slow the closer he gets to the alt modes, eyes traveling back to Jane and Darcy every few seconds.

Ari comes to a halt, drawing his gaze to her. He looks so conflicted, like no matter what decision he makes, he'll be in pain either way.

He may be better, but being better and being healed is like the difference between tap water and filtered water. Both will do in a pinch, but only one is truly refreshing. Bucky's got his own kinks to work out and he can't do that while also fighting on the front lines.

He doesn't want to disappoint his best friend. Steve wants Bucky by his side again, fighting the bad guys together like they used to. But Bucky _needs_ rest.

Ari gives him an encouraging nod and his face smooths out, a tension easing from him she didn't realize was there. This was really eating him up inside, but he shouldn't have to worry about anyone else if it's his own health on the line. He needs to think about himself for a change. For the first time in decades.

"I…," Bucky croaks out, clearing his throat before starting again, "I ain't going with yah, Stevie."

Steve turns around, brow pinched and mouth ticking up like he knows he heard wrong or there's a punchline coming. "What do you mean?"

"I ain't going with you," Bucky repeats, regretful but firm. "You got a good thing going here but I…I can't be a part of it. Not this time."

Hurt and disbelief flash across Steve's face, reminding Ari of a kicked puppy. It makes Bucky flinch, tossing her another uncertain look, and she tosses him another nod to hold his ground.

"But…but Bucky," Steve stammers, holding up his hands, palms up, like a supplicant offering even though he holds nothing. "We've always fought together, remember? You've always had my back before when I needed you."

Bucky takes in a deep breath, swallowing thickly. "I know that. Really, I do. But you don't need me anymore. You…You've got this amazing team. This family, and I—"

"You're my family, Buck," Steve insists, taking a step forward. "You're…You're all I got left."

"But I ain't the same man you remember," Bucky admits, speaking the hard truth the two of them have been dancing around since Bucky first woke up. "I've seen things and done things. Things that can't be undone." Steve opens his mouth but Bucky cuts him off. "I know they weren't my fault. I know. But I still gotta carry them. I still gotta deal with it, which ain't easy."

Bucky looks down, hands clenching at his sides as his voice goes quiet. "I don't expect you to understand, Stevie, but I…I need time to get my head on straight. There's a lot going on, up here." He taps at his head with his metal finger. "And I need time figuring it all out. Time not spent holding a gun and using the same skills Hydra taught me. Doesn't matter if it'll be for a good cause. I just…."

He looks up, shame turning his eyes shiny with tears. Ari takes a step forward but Darcy beats her to it, reaching Bucky's side and placing a hand on his shoulder. His metal shoulder. He may not feel it but the prosthetic still registers the pressure, making him take in a shaky breath.

"I don't know if I wanna be a fighter anymore. I don't know if I can…keep putting myself through that. Maybe one day I'll find that I do wanna keep fighting the good fight, putting bad guys away and sticking it to Hydra. But that day ain't today. Right now, I just…."

"You need to rest," Darcy finishes for him, eyes narrowing at Steve like she's just daring him to argue. "And there's nothing wrong with that."

Steve's jaw clenches so tightly it looks like his jaw might just shatter. But it's not in anger. Or disappointment. Or denial. It's grief and sympathy and the wish to take all these burdens from his best friend's shoulders. But he can't. This is a something Bucky can only face on his own. It's not something Steve can really help with, except by giving him what he needs.

"I…alright," Steve says, taking a few steps forward until Bucky's within arm's reach. "I understand. You take all the time you need. I just…I'll miss you."

"What are yah talking about, punk?" Bucky snorts, wry smile pulling at his lips. "I'm not saying we can't be friends and we're never gonna see each other again. I'm just saying I ain't gonna fight with you. We can still hang out, have a beer or something."

"Oh," Steve intones blankly, eyes blinking before a relieved smile overtakes his face. "You could have said that, yah jerk."

Bucky slings his right arm around Steve's neck, bringing him in for a rough hug. "Thought it went without saying. You ain't getting rid of me that easily."

"Too bad," Steve chuckles, shoving away playfully. "So what will you do?"

"Thought I'd hitch a ride to their train," Bucky answers, nodding towards Darcy and Jane, who comes up to stand with them.

"Darcy and I are going to London," Jane fills in, fiddling with her notebook in her hand. "A colleague of mine, Eric, he's been getting some interesting readings he wants me to check out."

"And apparently none of their equipment is easy to move," Bucky continues. "They could use some free manual labor to help them move and get settled."

"It'll be more than manual labor, promise," Darcy quips, bumping her shoulder with his. "You can be my intern."

Steve's brow furrows in amusement. "But aren't you the intern?"

"What, who says the intern can't have an intern?" She gives Steve a playful wink, threading her arm through Bucky's. "Don't worry, Cap, we'll take good care of him."

"You can have no doubt, my friend," Thor adds in boisterously, shooting them a grin from where he leans against Ironhide's alt mode. "Darcy is the best wrangler there is, as she says. She will make sure he is fed and watered."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "You make it sound like I'm a two-year-old. Or a plant."

"I know scientists can be," Darcy giggles, ignoring Jane's indignant squawk and Tony's loud denial. Bruce just shakes his head, hiding a smile behind his hand. "Who knows, maybe you will be, too, grandpa."

He glares at her, a roguish grin lighting his face that Ari hasn't seen yet outside of history books. "We'll see about that, doll."

Red dusts Darcy's cheeks, eyes darting away as she tucks her chin down.

Oh, yeah. He'll be totally fine.

Steve shakes his head with a knowing smirk. "Guess I'll see you later, jerk. Try to stay out of trouble."

"At least until I am able to join you!" Thor calls out, opening up Ironhide's door. "We should at least have a sparring match. I wish to test out that mechanical arm of yours."

Bucky glances down at his arm, gears whirling as his fingers clench. Ari expects his mood to turn sour at the mention of the appendage he did not ask for, but instead he smiles. Especially since Darcy still touches it without any revulsion. "You got it. Have a safe trip, guys. And good luck." He shoots Ari a grin. "Though I know you don't need it."

They finally hit the road then, the Autobots speeding down the highway towards New York City. It'll take them a few hours so not that long into the drive Sideswipe brings out his holoform, encouraging Ari to crawl into his lap.

She sighs contentedly as she curls against his chest, finally feeling at peace as his arms wrap around her. The past week has been absolute chaos, but this right here, with her friends and family safe and her sparkmate beaming happily across their bond, she thinks they really will be alright.

"So what now?" he asks, nuzzling against the top of her head.

"Well, we get through this thing with the UN, build up a new organization, and keep doing what we're doing. Kicking aft and taking names, ruining the bad guy's day."

"And Unicron? You still going to go looking for him?"

She shakes her head, lightness filling her at her decision. "I think I'll be leaving that alone for now. I became so focused on it, I dropped the ball on everything else. I need to focus on the here and now, on picking everything else up after Hydra made it fall to the ground. And besides, I'm thinking it was never up to me to figure it out. It's Optimus's mission now."

Sideswipe grasps her chin lightly with a thumb and forefinger, lifting her face and brushing his nose against hers. "I'm proud of you, sweetspark, you know that?"

Her chest tightens, a lump forming in her throat. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. This has been one of the biggest obstacles we have ever faced before but we got through it. Because of you. Because you refused to stay down. And no matter what comes next, I know we'll be able to handle it, too."

Ari smiles wetly, lifting herself up the rest of the way to press her lips to his. Yeah, finding out about Hydra has been rough, to put it mildly. There are more bad guys in the world than she thought there were, plenty of whom they still have to put away. But they're managing.

There are still questions that need answered, more question than Ari ever thought to ask before. Including questions about herself. But she can wait. The answers will come, in their own time.

In the meantime, there's so much to do, so much to plan, and so much to build with the people who remain. Not to mention, new Dinobots to get acclimated with the world. The rest will come eventually.

She will be waiting, ready to face whatever it is. And this time, she won't fall.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note_**

 _So Fury is taking a step back so Ari and Phil can take the reins. Phil took Fury's place in the TV show Agents of SHIELD, and Ari isn't going to sit this out. I know the two of them working together is going to be epic. But it'll be a lot of work if they want to avoid things like the Sokovia Accords in the MCU and how the United Nations tried to micromanage everything so much that they pushed Steve away. But Ari has some kick-butt aliens on her side, plus the AllSpark. She'll be able to kick their butts into gear._

 _And because I know people are going to ask, no, Age of Ultron won't be happening. I'd like to think Ari would be able to stop all that before it got out of hand. Especially since there's no way she'd let Tony play with the Mind Stone._

 _As for Thor Ragnarok, well, I did kind of hint at that at the end, didn't I? ;)_

 _I haven't really decided on Ragnarok yet. But I left it open, with the hints of Jane and Darcy going to London to check out some strange readings, plus Bucky becoming the intern's intern (because I ship Darcy/Bucky so hard, there will be no Ian either way). It's a decision I'll probably make later in time for Last Knight, just as a side note though. I don't have time for a spinoff fic._

 _And how do you like Bucky taking off from Steve? Honestly, he needs the rest, and I think Steve finally gets that. Doesn't mean they're not best buds still. Just that, for now, Bucky needs to not fight. I got that feeling from Bucky in Infinity Wars as well. He was...tired. I want Bucky to get that rest he really needs. And he can get that with Darcy. Plus some romance. Because he deserves that, too._

 _I know I left you guys hanging on Lina and Sunstreaker, and that was on purpose. They have a lot to work through, which will be addressed in the next fic. They've still got a bit of a bumpy road._

 _As for the next fic, I don't know when I'll start posting. I haven't even written any of it yet, though I have loads of ideas. I need to outline and plan, but before that, I need a break. This whole series has been a monster and taking a lot of my time. I just need to not think about writing for a while, and then I want to work on some other things I've started and been neglecting (including my original work). There are parts for a Doctor Who fic and a Breath of the Wild fic on my laptop I want to revisit, too. So if either of those interest you, keep an eye out._

 _But I will be back to this universe, within the next year. Don't worry. I'm finishing what I started. Though it will be sad to finally end it, when the time comes._

 _I love you all so much and thank you for all your support!_

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


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